The Sin of Love
by white tiger freak
Summary: The cursed lovers are set free by the unlikeliest of allies. What battles do they face with this new found freedom? Remake of season one. Rating may change! Spoilers for most of the series, in some way or another. Canon Pairings only. ExM DxK BxE Will be updated periodically!
1. Prologue

**I'm not usually one to have stories that rely on updating, but I decided to take a risk this time. This story was inspired by Awaken by HeavenStar 18. It's a great story and while we share similarities the stories are very different in the end.**

"Hi" = Speech

_'Hi' = Thoughts_

* * *

~Kingdom Liones Ten Years Ago~

In the continent of Britannia there is a kingdom called Liones, and at the outskirts of Liones Capital City is a boy knight named Allioni, who is walking through the city when an older knight spots him.

"Hey! You there boy give me a hand."

Allioni gets excited, "Yes, sir!"

They begin walking through the city together. "So where are you from boy?"

"Cains, sir."

The old Knight looks confused. "Cains? I've been serving this kingdom for 40 years now. I've never heard of such a place."

"That's not surprising Sir, it's way out in the boonies." Allioni says in a fluster.

"Now you mustn't get flustered if you want to become a Holy Knight Apprentice someday."

Allioni shakes his head in denial, "I couldn't be a Holy Knight in a million years."

The Old Knight scoffs, "Then this might be a rough job for a young fellow like you."

The knights walk down an alley and into a square which is filled with dead bodies, all torn apart, broken and bloody. Allioni starts trembling with fear, gazing upon dead body after dead body. "Who are all these people?" He asks, still shaking.

"They were Holy Knights one and all." The Old Knight gazes sadly upon all the lives that were lost. 'What a waste.'

"What happened to them? I- I don't understand."

"What happened? They were all mercilessly butchered, in a blink of an eye at that, by just seven people." The Old Knight says in awe and sadness.

Narrator

This is a tale of ancient times. An era before the human and non-human worlds were forever divided. When the Holy Knights defended the realm wielding their magical powers; they were feared and highly respected. But among them a group emerged that betrayed the kingdom and became mortal enemies to all Holy Knights. They were known throughout the land as "The Seven Deadly Sins."

**(Couldn't resist)**

~Purgatory Now~

In the dark world of Purgatory, ruled by the Demon King Kieron stood a boy. This boy has spiky black hair and his attire is a body suit, crimson in color and has a white insignia on several places. The suit had an open collar and exposed his chest, he had silver gauntlets and carried his sword with a strap on his hip. His name is Zeldris. But this is no mere boy. He's the youngest prince of the Demon Realm and is known as The Executioner. He stands in his room contemplating what happened 3,000 years ago for what must be the millionth time. Remembering how his father worked with the Supreme Deity, his sworn enemy, to curse his eldest son Meliodas and the Goddess Elizabeth, his son's lover. The knowledge that his son, his heir, his first born, betrayed him to be with a Goddess had driven him to make a decision in rage.

Zeldris starts pacing. _'Why brother? Why a… A GODDESS of all creatures! She does nothing but torture him life after life!'_ He is interrupted from his darker thoughts by an idea. An idea he had not indulged in a long time. _'Why do I judge Meliodas? I would have done the same to be with Gelda. I would have done anything to be with my love.'_

He groans. "I tire of this insanity. This unfairness my brother has to suffer through! But how do I fix it?" '_I can't get rid of both of their curses; even with father's power I am not strong enough.'_ He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. 'Maybe I could take off the curse father bestowed upon Elizabeth and they could figure out a solution…' He stops as something occurred to him. _'There might be one way, but this could get me killed. Is it worth it?'_ He immediately heads for a chamber deep beneath the palace. He sneaks past guards and wandering demons. _'If I get caught I'm dead.'_ He comes upon an old decrepit door. _'This is it.'_ He takes a deep breath and pushes the door open.

It opens to a dark and dreary chamber. In the center of the vast empty space sat a lone object covered in cloth, wrapped in chains and sealed with powerful magic. Zeldris takes it all off one at a time to reveal a large golden mirror. This mirror long ago was used to communicate with the Goddess race. '_Let's hope the right people hear me.'_ He puts his hand on the glass. "Sariel! Tamariel! Answer me! I ask for aid in helping one of your comrades."

~Celestial Realm~

In the bright and beautiful Celestial Realm ruled by the Supreme Deity Arula, two of the four archangels were roaming the halls of the palace when they hear their names being called in the distance. Sariel looks around in confusion.

"Did you hear that Tarmiel?"

Sariel has the appearance of a child with light blue hair with bangs covering most of his forehead. He possessed four angelic wings on his back, the second pair smaller than the first and wears a set of coat-like robes with a symbol of the Goddess Clan on his chest; his hoodie resembles that of a halo.

"Yes I did. Where is it coming from?" Tarmiels' heads look around.

Tarmiel is a tall, muscular man with three heads and three small pairs of angelic wings protruding from his back. These three heads are unique; the right one has the appearance of an old man with a long white beard tinged with purple, the left the appearance of a young man with slicked back green hair and the middle head an ageless face with a golden bowl cut. He wears a toga with robes adorned on his body and had a symbol of the Goddess Clan.

Sariel listens for it again. "I think it's coming from the catacombs."

"Should we investigate?" Sariel shrugs and heads towards the sound, Tarmiel following.

They enter a bright yet somehow dreary chamber, where they see a silver mirror hanging on the far wall. As they approached they hear the voice more clearly.

"Sariel! Tarmiel! Can you hear me?! This is important!"

Sariel looks at Tarmiel and then touches the glass. Zeldris appears in the reflection.

"DEMON!" The archangels ready an attack. Zeldris panics.

"WAIT! PLEASE!" They halt at the emotion from the normally calm and quiet demon.

Sariel is the first to break the resulting silence. "What do you want Demon Prince?"

Zeldris bows his head and sighs; as he raises it again they could see his desperation. "I need your help to break the curse on my brother and his lover." The angels gasp.

"You mean Lady Elizabeth and Meliodas? Why? Aren't you happy he's suffering?"

Zeldris growls. "You have no idea what Meliodas has gone through! He hadn't grown or changed since the curse was put on him! Elizabeth keeps being reborn over and over again! And... AND MELIODAS HAS TO WATCH HER DIE EVERY TIME SHE REMEMBERS THEIR LIVES TOGETHER OVER AND OVER AGAIN!" He then continues softer, "If I'm not mistaken he's had to watch her die over a 100 times now."

Tarmiel looks skeptical. "Why should we believe you? You've killed innocent people without mercy or hesitation." Sariel hits him on the shoulder.

"Shut up Tarmiel. We've done the same and so has Meliodas and we still fought together." He gives him a smile. "Don't you remember how happy Lady Elizabeth was when she introduced us to Meliodas?" He snorts. "Do you remember how she slapped Ludociel when he was going to attack him? I don't think he could have looked more shocked if he tried." He sighs. "I care a lot about Lady Elizabeth, she was always so kind to everyone no matter the race. She's always just wanted the best for people. It's been 3,000 years… can you imagine what she feels every time her memory returns. Realizing she's going to die and is making Meliodas suffer through her death again." Sariel looks back to the mirror. "My question is why do you think we would consider helping you?"

"I heard about how you helped Elizabeth cure Derieri and Monspeet when they became Indula." Zeldris looks pained at the memory. "You believe in fairness and not vengeance. I knew you would at least consider helping if only to help your comrade."

The angels look at each other and smirk. They nod at Zeldris. "We're in. What do we need to do?" Zeldris smirks.

"Just let me say one phrase, but make sure you use as much of your magic as possible for this to work." They all collect their magic in their hands. The glowing white light of the Goddess Clan and the darkness of the Demon Clan illuminated both sides of the mirror. "Ready?" They nod and raise their hands in unison. _**"End this curse and restore these lives!"**_

They all release a powerful orb of magic into the air, which explodes and they could feel the drain that comes from when a spell is successful. They look at each other, smirks on all their faces. Until Sariel has a thought.

"How do we know that our rulers won't just redo the curses?"

Zeldris thinks about it for a second. "What if we agree not to fight if we ever meet? Think about it! If there is peace between clans then Meliodas and Elizabeth could be together without repercussions." The angels look skeptical, but agree.

"You'll have to convince the Ten Commandments to agree on your end. I can't say Loduciel will listen to us, but we can convince pretty much everyone else if it comes to it." Sariel points out.

Zeldris nods. "Consider it done. Melascula and Galand will be trouble, but I can handle the others." _'Drole and Gloxinia will be easy.'_

Tarmiel nods to this idea. "So are we in agreement? This war is pretty much over… I can't believe I just said that." They all nod and disconnect the communication.

~Purgatory~

Zeldris sighs in relief after ending the connection. _'Now if only I could see Gelda.'_ He shakes his head. _'Should I have told them that the spell restored my brothers' power? Nah!_' He walks out of the chamber after restoring its previous protections. _'I still can't believe they could find Goddess amber that could hold **most** of his power.'_


	2. The Curse is Broken

Chapter 1 aka The Curse is Broken

~Near Cains Town~

In the human world, someone in rusted armor with a purple cape walks across the land. The figure looks to the east to see the sun rising. _'I hope my mission is successful. For the sake of everyone.'_ A bright light flashes in the distance. _'What was that?'_

~Boar Hat~

In a tavern on the top of a hill, a boy who wears a white shirt, black vest, red tie and a sword handle on his back in the shape of a dragon, is hard at work serving people. This seemingly ordinary looking boy is Meliodas, son of Demon King Kieron. He places a tray with three cups of ale onto the table, "Alright drink up. Thanks for waiting." he says to the three men sitting at the table.

The tavern door opens and one of the men yells to Meliodas, "Hey, is there any more room?"

"Right over here." Meliodas points to another table beside him, "Hey you think you can move over a little?" He says to a man sitting at the table as he picks up their empty mugs.

One of the men watches him work. "For such a little fella, he's one hard working waiter."

Meliodas pauses. "Oh I'm not a waiter buddy; I'm the owner of this place." _'Why do people have to comment on my size! I was once one of the most powerful beings in existence.'_ He then continues walking to the bar, leaving the confused man behind.

"Huh? He's the owner? A young kid like that?"

Meliodas walks back to the same table as he carried a tray with a meat pie on it. "Alright here you go." he puts a tray on the table, "It's the meat pie that made the Boar Hat famous."

"Wow this looks good." One of the men says as all three of them got a fork and take a piece out of the meat pie.

"Let's eat some pie." the three of them say before they all take a bite, and then they develop looks of disgust on their faces as they spit it out. Meliodas stands back, unsurprised.

"You should have known our reputation is for having really good booze, but our food, not that great." The three men stand up in anger.

"YOU MIGHT HAVE MENTIONED THAT!"

"You trying to mess with us you little-" One of the men is about to pick up Meliodas but then another one notices his back. "Hold up, this guy is carrying a sword." They all start looking at the dragon hilt on Meliodas back.

"Well guys, looks like we have a problem. Now let's fix it!" Meliodas snaps his fingers.

"Oh, what is it now," says a voice. A pig walks over to where Meliodas and the three men are standing, "Seriously what do you need me for?"

One of the men starts freaking out."Wait! That pig he's talking to us guys!"

"That's right I'm a talking pig." says the bored pig. _'What a bunch of hillbillies.'_

"Hawk we need to get this floor cleaned up." Meliodas points to the mess of food the three men left on the ground.

"Alright." The pig, Hawk, starts to eat the food on the ground, "Scraps disposal is a tough business." he says while eating. In seconds there was then a clean spot on the floor where the food had been. "Next time there better be some decent sized scraps around here." Hawk starts to walk away, Meliodas gains an annoyed look on his face then turns to the men.

"You know I got a family recipe for whole roasted hog if any of you guys are interested."

Hawk quickly turns around raising his head in the air, "Wow! I'm so full, those were some of the best scraps I've ever had!" Meliodas smirks.

Some of the people in the tavern laugh at their antics. Then the tavern door quickly bangs open to show a man who looks like he had seen a ghost, "I saw it!"

~Little bit later~

The man is now sitting at a table with a mug of ale, "I saw it out there, I swear by all that's holy it was the Wandering Rust Knight I saw out there." One of the drunk men scoffs.

"C'mon, that's just some made up story to scare their kids into behaving." He starts speaking in a scary voice. "If you don't do what I tell you, one of the Seven Deadly Sins will come after you in blood rusted armor." This catches Meliodas's attention.

'Scary bedtime story?' Meliodas, who is standing at the counter, acts confused. "The Seven Deadly Sins?" One of the men looks over.

"What you haven't heard of them, young tavern owner?"

_'Again with the young thing! I'm older than the country you're sitting in!'_

"Their wanted posters are everywhere. Like those over there." The man points at the noticeboard that was on the wall, it has seven posters on it, with the picture of someone on it and their name. "When was it... about ten years ago?"

Another man picks up the story, "Dozens of Holy Knights from all across the land were butchered so fast that they didn't even have time to defend themselves. They say The Seven Deadly Sins were the ones who were responsible for it."

_'People do like to blame us when things go wrong.'_

"From what I heard, the way the Holy Knights Grand Master was murdered it was too gruesome for anyone to look at." adds another man. "They say their captain, Meliodas, is the strongest one of them all. They say he's even brought down entire countries before."

_'That was an accident.'_

"None of them have been caught yet have they?" A man a few tables away questions.

The first man shakes his head. "Nope, not a single one."

Another says, "Well! I heard rumors that they had been dead for years now." Someone scoffs.

"Of course they are! The new Holy Knights will never let them live after what they've done."

Another guy says, "You've got a point there."

The first guy is confident that he would never run into one of The Sins. "With the king sick in bed I bet the Holy Knights are gonna make sure the kingdom will stay safe for all their people."

The man who started the conversation is worried. "But if those notices get updated every single year... doesn't that mean those seven criminals are still out there somewhere." The men freeze at the thought.

A random guy brings up, "Well some spooky Knight walking around in rusty armor sounds pretty ridiculous to me."

The men look worried, but relax again. "I guess you're right." They all go back to their drinks when they hear the sound of moving armor outside. All of the people in the tavern look at the door.

Hawk who is behind the counter with Meliodas sniffs the air, "That smells an awful lot like rust to me."

The door to the tavern opens revealing a person with rusted armor and a purple cape, it raises its hands as a metallic voice comes from inside the helmet. "The Seven Deadly Sins..."

"IT'S HERE!" shouts all the men in the tavern as they run out. The only two left were Hawk who shakes in fear and Meliodas who jumps over the counter and stands in front of the armored person.

"Now who are you?" The person falls back onto the floor which causes the helmet to fall off.

Meliodas looks at the figure with surprise; it was a much older Elizabeth. The last time he saw the princess she was six years old and he was saving her from an attack on the castle. She's taller, her hair grown longer, and some of her hair covered her right eye. Meliodas notices she looks just like when they first met, but without the wings. This is the closest lookalike to her original persona to date. He decides not to tell Hawk he knew her. He wouldn't risk her regaining her memories of her past lives and activating the three day countdown to her death. He would try to prevent that for as long as possible. _'As much as it pains me to be aloof around her.'_

~Upstairs in Meliodas' room~

"It's a girl..." Hawk stands next to Meliodas. Meliodas wonders why Elizabeth was all the way out here and not at the capital of Liones where she should be.

Elizabeth is on the bed, her armor removed and now only wearing a skintight black suit that didn't cover her shoulders, long gloves, and thigh high socks.

_'She's beautiful as always. How does she always stay so damn gorgeous?'_ Meliodas observes lovingly, while maintaining a straight face.

"It's a girl, no doubt about it."

"Better make sure." Hawk looks surprised.

Meliodas starts walking around the bed and examining her. "That gentle face, those buck some curves." He then stands at her right side squeezing her breast, "Yep she's a girl alright." Hawk yells at the pervert.

"You already knew that!"

Elizabeth's eyes snap open and as she sits up Meliodas still squeezes her breast. She moves a bit of her hair that was covering her right eye behind her ear to look at Meliodas. Meliodas looks at her eyes, noticing they were still a stunning blue. They widen as she finally gets a look at her groper, who takes notice.

"Hey is everything-" he is then interrupted by Elizabeth kissing him with fever. Meliodas is surprised at first, but then instinct kicks in and he kisses back passionately while wrapping an arm around her. They are both so wrapped up in the kiss and each other that they don't feel the magic occurring around them. A bright glowing light, wind that picks up out of nowhere, and a warmth that begins to emanate from the two of them.

Hawk covers his eyes with one of his ears, trying to cover himself from the light and braces himself from the wind, "What's going on!?" The light and wind stop, and the warmth dissipates as the now panting Meliodas and Elizabeth gradually stop kissing.

After the kiss Meliodas slowly opens his eyes to see the goddess symbol in Elizabeth's eyes, she is smiling as tears of joy start to come out of her eyes. She tries not to cry, but fails. "Meliodas my love, our curse has been broken."

"What!?" he asks her, hopeful. "Are you sure?" She nods enthusiastically.

"Yes! For some reason our curse has been broken."

Meliodas puts both his hands on her shoulders, with tears in his eyes, "So you're not going to die in three days?"

Elizabeth realizing what this means for the two of them smiled brighter than the sun, with tears in her eyes as she nods again. The two of them hug wanting to never let the other go. They both shed tears of happiness at the fact they would never have to lose each other ever again because of some stupid curse. Meliodas pulls back just enough to see her face.

"I love you Elizabeth."

"And I love you Meliodas." She pulls his face closer and kisses him. For a moment he forgets about his troubles, about all the years of suffering, trudging through life without her, just melting into the sensation of her lips on his. Until a throat is cleared behind them.

"Umm excuse me." The two of them stop to look at Hawk. Elizabeth gapes for a second.

"Is that a talking pig?"

"Yeah. Elizabeth, this is Hawk." Meliodas gestures to his silver haired beauty and back. "Hawk meet the Goddess Elizabeth."

Elizabeth walks over to Hawk and starts petting him, "You know a long time ago I asked my father, in this life, for a talking pig."

"Did you enjoy having one?" Elizabeth's smile turns a little sad.

"I didn't get one." Hawk however is staring at her in disbelief.

"Wait! Meliodas said you're a goddess right?" He continues staring at Elizabeth who nods in response. "Then that would explain those things on your back."

Meliodas then notices what Hawk was talking about. There were four white wings coming out of Elizabeth's back. She also looks at them in shock.

"Wait... if I have these? Then that must mean you have...," Elizabeth looks at Meliodas.

Meliodas closes his eyes, when he opens them his eyes went from emerald green to a black green color, there is a big dark circle with spikes on his head and in the middle of the circle on his forehead was a dot. The crest of the demon realm. He takes in a deep breath, as he can feel the power return to him. He had his full demon power back, but this time he gets to keep and control his emotions.

Hawk backs away in fear at the sight of all that darkness emanating from Meliodas. "What are you?" As he backs away Elizabeth kneels in front of him.

"Easy Hawk, he's not like the other demons." Elizabeth tries to calm down the nervous piggy.

"What!" Hawk responds to what Elizabeth said, "You're a demon! I thought they never existed!" Hawk looks at Meliodas who is still in his demon form.

"Meliodas is different; he betrayed the other demons for me." Elizabeth looks at Hawk hoping for understanding. "He is one of the best people I have ever known." Hawk looks at Meliodas, then Elizabeth and nods.

"Okay… I can go with that." He then shakes his head. "Wait… so what happened to you two?"

Meliodas's demon symbol fades away, and his eyes go back to their normal green as he and Elizabeth look at each other, "Why don't we talk about it downstairs? Are you hungry?"

She nods, then wears a teasing smile. "Yeah, hopefully your cooking has improved over the years."

"Prepare to be disappointed." Hawk says deadpan.

~Downstairs~

Elizabeth looks around at the walls when she notices the wanted posters for the Seven Deadly Sins on a board. _'Are these the Seven Deadly Sins? My father never mentioned their names in his stories. I should probably know them, if I'm going to look for them. Let's see; Ban, King, Diane, Escanor, Gowther, Merlin, and Mel-'_

"Alright foods ready!" Meliodas calls out, which shocks Elizabeth out of her train of thought.

Elizabeth sits at the counter and looks at the food with a smile, "This looks delicious! Thank you." Hawk gives her a look of pity.

"Might want to wait to say thanks till after you eat it."

Elizabeth picks up the fork and takes the first bite and grimaces, "Terrible isn't it." Meliodas says knowingly. Elizabeth nods, but continues eating.

"But it's still good… I would say your cooking has gotten better over the years, but I would be lying." she teases him. "It's still better than mine."

"Your cooking was the only cooking worse than mine." Meliodas smirks. "Remember when we would set up camp with Gloxinia and Drole? They would never let us cook. Even if it meant going hungry for the night." They both start laughing. Hawk just looks at them like they're crazy. **(Which they kind of are if you think about it.)**

"So what's the deal with you two?"

The couple looks at each other as Meliodas grabs Elizabeth's hand. "Well… it all started over 3,000 years ago." Meliodas takes a deep breath and keeps going.

"During the midst of the Holy War, Elizabeth and I were punished by both of our gods. I was punished for being one of the Demon Clan and taking the hand of one from the goddess clan and furthermore, the sin of betraying my own comrades and killing them."

Elizabeth interrupts briefly, "And I was punished as one of the Goddess Clan for uniting with one from the demon clan and saving even the enemy, the Ten Commandments, the handpicked elite soldiers of the Demon King."

Meliodas picks back up. "In the face of their overwhelming power, there was nothing we could do. Our lives were lost." Hawk gasps and Meliodas continues like nothing happened. "… At least… They should've been. I don't know how much time passed… whether it was one day or a few days… But I woke up *sigh* and my wounded body had been completely restored to normal. *deep breath* Elizabeth lay dead beside me." Meliodas stops for a moment as Elizabeth squeezes his hand to remind him she is still there and they're together.

He continues, "Without any idea what had happened to us… all I could do was hold onto Elizabeth's body and cry… The only thing I did know… was that while I was unconscious the Holy War had ended. And then I realized that for some reason I wasn't aging at all. Well, I figured out the reason later on anyways. While I was aimlessly wandering alone through the battle torn Britannia ravaged by the Holy War... we met once again." Meliodas smiles at Elizabeth. "After we got to know each other and I told her our story, her powers came back and she remembered. She told me we were under a curse." Meliodas stops again and after she sees he needs a moment Elizabeth tells the rest of the story.

"I told him. Your father, the Demon King Kieron and my mother, the Supreme Deity Arula placed this curse upon us. Eternal life… and perpetual reincarnation. You will never again age, and even if you should die, you will be revived. I will continue to live out short lifespans as a human, and each time I will forget all the memories of my previous lives… If by some chance I should regain my memories of my previous lives… Then no matter what happens or how much you try to protect me… After three days, I will unavoidably die. And that isn't all. Every time I am reborn, I will inevitably meet and fall in love with you and then just as inevitably, I will lose my life before your very eyes." Elizabeth looks at Meliodas who still hasn't fully recovered from before and just continues to hold his hand.

Hawk sniffles. "That's awful."

Meliodas pulls his hands away from Elizabeth's and uses them to brace himself against the counter like it was the only reason he was still standing. He looks down sullenly at the counter. "I've had to watch her die 106 times. Always just out of my reach to save her."

Elizabeth smiles as she reaches over with her right hand, tilts his head and then puts her left over his right hand, "It doesn't have to be a 107 now."

Meliodas smiles back at her, leans into the hand on his face and holds onto her other hand.

"That only leaves one thing." Hawk wipes his snout clear of tears. "Why are you all the way out here Elizabeth?"

"In this life, I'm Princess Elizabeth of Liones-" she says while she pulls her right hand down to join Meliodas's.

"Wait! You're really Princess Elizabeth, you're the third princess in the royal family." interrupts Hawk. "Sorry. Continue."

"I'm on a personal quest to find the Seven Deadly Sins."

Meliodas looks at her in surprise. _'Doesn't she know I'm one of them?'_

Hawk speaks, "Wait, those guys are criminals. Why would you need their help?"

They're interrupted by a banging sound at the door and the three of them look at it.

"Open up there! The villagers told us who was in there. We are the Knights garrisoned at the base of the mountain, Wandering Rust Knight, a member of the Seven Deadly Sins, come out!"

~Outside~

"I don't think they're coming out." Knight 1 says curiously.

Knight 2, "This is kind of strange when did someone put a tavern up on the top of this hill?"

Knight 3, "You know now that you mention it I don't even remember seeing this place a few days ago."

Allioni tires of their nonchalance, "Be on your guard because we're about to go up against a holy knight who went up against the king ten years ago."

Knight 1, "Come on, there's nothing to worry about Allioni I'm sure he's old by now."

Knight 2, "That's right; he's no match for fighters like us who were trained by Sir Twigo himself."

Allioni is frustrated with the whole situation, "I told you don't underestimate them when the uprising happened in Liones dozens of holy knights were butchered in an instant."

Knight 1, "About that…?"

"What is it?"

"I have to wonder if things weren't exaggerated a little bit."

"And what are you trying to say!"

"Well people say that a Holy Knight is as powerful as a hundred ordinary soldiers so dozens of them butchered…seems a bit fantastical?" Knight 2 says doubtful.

"I saw their bodies with my own eyes. They were everywhere and all of them were torn apart."

Knight 1 tries to dissolve the tension. "Everybody calm down. For now just stand back Allioni, I think we can handle one old man. Hey get out here!"

~In the Bar~

"Elizabeth go wait out back." Meliodas points at the back door. Elizabeth goes out the back and hides behind the door. Meliodas then walks to the front door. He opens it coming face to face with five knights, "Yes can I help you?" Elizabeth sneaks around the building so she can watch.

The one who banged on the door speaks, "Wait who are you little kid?" Meliodas is careful to keep his face blank, but Elizabeth knows he hates being called a kid.

"Well, I'm the owner of this place."

"Huh you're the owner?" says one of the other Knights.

Allioni addresses Meliodas. "Bring out the Wandering Rust Knight, we know he's in there."

Meliodas looks into the bar behind him, "Okay you better come out."

Hawk walks to the front door with the rusty helmet on his back and the knee parts on his two front legs, "Who is calling for me? I am Sir Hawk the Rusty Knight." Allioni looks at the pig with disbelief.

"What is this?"

"So this pig is one of the Seven Deadly Sins." says one of the other men.

"Of course not." Allioni huffs in annoyance.

"Who do you think you're talking to? I'm Captain of the Order of Scraps Disposal."

"There is no such order!"

Meliodas points at Hawk, "If this pig is what you're after you can grill him if you want."

Hawk looks at him with annoyance, "Give it a rest will ya!"

The first man picks up Meliodas by the front of his shirt. "You punk! You've got some nerve."

Elizabeth sees the man pick up Meliodas. _'Meliodas... always trying to protect me.'_ She runs into the forest, hoping to get the knights away from him.

One of the Knights notices her heading for the forest, "Allioni look! A girl went out the back."

Allioni who is still holding onto Meliodas lets go of him. Meliodas lands on the ground as the five knights run towards the forest where Elizabeth ran, "After her!"

Meliodas and Hawk look at the direction where the knights and Elizabeth went, "Oh no."

_'Elizabeth...*sigh* Always trying to protect me.'_ Meliodas thinks while he runs after her.

~Forest~

The five Knights chase Elizabeth through the forest. As they follow her they notice something odd about her. _'Why are wings coming out of her back?'_

"I can't let her escape. If I capture her I'll finally be made into an apprentice Holy Knight." Allioni says to himself. Then one of his fellow Knights flew past him, "What was that?" He looks back and spots the pig from the tavern.

Hawk's running after them all. He is so fast, it's causing a trail of dust behind him. "You're not getting away!" He hits each of the Knights which causes them to fall down while Allioni is still running after the girl.

He looks behind him. "No you keep away! Leave me alone!" He doesn't notice when something quickly comes out of the trees, picks up Elizabeth, and disappears from sight. He looks ahead of him in time to stop himself from going over the cliff, but spots no sign of his suspect. "Where did the girl go?"

"Down you go!" Hawk hits him from behind. Allioni screams as he falls down the cliff. "No offense Mister Knight, but I just earned double my scraps tonight."

~Trees~

Up in the trees Meliodas holds Elizabeth and squeezes her right breast, "Thanks for saving me." She kisses him briefly.

Meliodas smiles, "Just like old times." and pulls her in for another kiss. He wraps his arms tightly around her waist and presses her close against him. She curls her fingers in his hair before they are interrupted.

"Seriously you two! This is not the time!" Hawk yells from the ground. Meliodas scowls at the pig.

"We haven't been able to do this in 3,000 years! Give us a moment." Meliodas brings Elizabeth in for another kiss.

Hawk stomps his foot, while yelling. "I don't care! Get down here!"

Elizabeth pulls away from the kiss and whispers something in his ear. Meliodas blushes bright red and leaps out of the tree with Elizabeth still his arms. He then puts her on the ground and walks toward the cliff bashfully.

Hawk looks at Elizabeth in awe. "What did you say to him?"

"The one thing that always gets Meliodas to comply with my wishes." Elizabeth replies with a wink while walking toward the cliff. Hawk just looks at her in confusion and awe.

~Cliff~

The three of them look at the land around them from the cliff, when Meliodas breaks the silence. "So… why are you trying to find the Seven Deadly Sins?" Elizabeth glances at him, before looking out again.

"I want to ask them, to help me stop the Holy Knights." Hawk looks at her in confusion.

"Are you serious? Why would you want to stop them? The Holy Knights are the king's men, real heroes."

"But what if they're the reason for trouble in the kingdom?" Elizabeth wears a look of sadness and sighs. "About three weeks ago, the entire royal family except the King himself was arrested." Meliodas looks surprised.

Hawk tilts his head. "Does that mean the King isn't really sick in bed?"

"That's just a cover story the knights are using, they're taking men from wherever they can get them and are preparing for war everywhere." Elizabeth frowns. "I don't know what they can accomplish by driving the nation to war. But now they are drafting the people of the kingdom. Soon their reach will extend all the way out here." She gestures to the land in front of them.

"That's not good." says Hawk with worry in his voice. Meliodas shrugs with indifference.

"Yeah too bad." Hawk gives him a look of disgust.

"Wow you have no sympathy at all, do you?" Meliodas wants to get back on track.

"So how does this tie in with the Seven Deadly Sins again?"

"If there's even a slightest sliver of hope to prevent the Holy Knights from doing this." Elizabeth's hands curl into fists. "I know they're the only ones who can!"

"Just a second." Meliodas stops her. "So you're trying to find the Seven Deadly Sins, even though you know what kind of people they are."

"The Seven Deadly Sins, the vilest order of knights the kingdom ever produced, made up of seven bloodthirsty criminals each branded with the mark of a beast." Elizabeth hugs her arms close to her. "Ten years ago, when they were suspected of over throwing the kingdom, the knights of the realm launched a full force attack scattering them to the four winds."

"Well if you believed the rumors they all died a long time ago." Meliodas points out.

"Such amazing people couldn't possibly be dead!" Elizabeth looks at him. "You and I have seen what powerful people can get back up from and how impossible they are to kill."

Meliodas shrugs, "They are criminals, aren't they? And you don't know how powerful they truly are. For all you know the stories could be nothing but exaggerations. They could have hurt people more than help them."

"The Holy Knights are the ones hurting the people right now!" She looks out again. "My father would tell me stories about them, that's when I learned that they were the most powerful-" she suddenly stops talking as the ground begins to shake.

The piece of the mountain they were on begins to crumble, which sends Meliodas, Elizabeth and Hawk flying.

Hawk screams as they fall to their doom. "Oh give me a break!"

~Top of the Cliff~

A large dust cloud settles to reveal a man who is holding a sword out. Presumably, he is the one who had caused the cliff to break off.

"Oh, dear. I forgot to confirm that those two were the people in the report." The man says while he sheathes his sword. "Conclusion, two persons of unknown origins dead! Does that sound alright?" He turns to face the four shocked knights from Allioni's group earlier.

"B-but Allioni is at the bottom of the cliff!" The second knight protests.

"Then list three fatalities." The man replies. The knights back away in fear.

"Sir Twigo! That's going too far." The third knight protests as well. Sir Twigo narrows his eyes.

"Shall I make it seven fatalities?" He asks menacingly. The knights start to back away in fright.

"No! We're sorry! Forgive us!" Sir Twigo walks closer to them and is about to pull out his sword when Meliodas jumps up the cliff.

~While Twigo was losing it.~

Before they reach the ground Meliodas catches Elizabeth and she grabs onto him.

Meliodas then grabs Hawk and notices Allioni on the ground where the rubble of the cliff is about to hit him. _'No one deserves to be crushed by a falling cliff.'_ So Meliodas grabs Allioni and jumps back up the cliff, he puts down Allioni and drops Hawk.

~And we're back~

"Sir look! It's Allioni!" One of the Knights from earlier points out.

Meliodas looks to see the four other Knights, along with a big man in armor who yells at him.

"You there! How dare you deny my death tally conclusion!" Meliodas just gives the guy a neutral glance then looks to his lover.

"Hey, are you alright Elizabeth?" He keeps an eye on the big guy in armor, while assessing the situation.

"Oh yes!" She opens her eyes. "You do remember I could have flown right?" Meliodas smirks at her.

"Yeah, but I like holding onto you." He then looks back at the threat with a blank expression. "Anyway, when I give the signal, run into the forest."

"Alright." Elizabeth stands up. "If you're going to fight them, don't kill anyone. I know how overprotective you can get."

Meliodas smirks at her, "No promises."

"Tell me men, which of these do you think to be a member of the Seven Deadly Sins? None of them seem to have a resemblance to any of the wanted posters." The man in armor looks at them and notices the earring on Elizabeth's left ear. "Uh huh, that crest on the earring you're wearing belongs to the royal family, which means, in conclusion, that you are Princess Elizabeth." He begins to approach them, "The order from the capital was to capture you alive, but if you lost your life in an unfortunate accident."

"Go now!" Meliodas points to the forest and the two of them run into the forest with Hawk. Elizabeth picks up her pace.

"I can't let myself be captured, I can't afford to give up yet!" Sir Twigo draws his sword.

"Conclusion," He swings his blade launching an attack at the fleeing girl. "Accidental death!"

The slap of energy cuts through all the trees. Elizabeth notices it behind her, right before Meliodas grabs onto her and the two of them land on the ground as the slash avoids them and cuts down all the trees in the forest. Meliodas is the first to look up.

"Hey, are you alright Elizabeth?" He has a tear in the left sleeve of his shirt.

She nods, "Sorry. I'm a little rusty with all this Meliodas."

"No problem." He pecks her on the lips and then spots Hawk a couple of feet away. "You okay Hawk? You seem okay."

Hawk has a stick poking out of him, drops of blood were running out from the wound and tears built up in his eyes, "Seriously! I'm pork on a skewer! Oh mommy!" Hawk jumps into the forest and starts running in the direction of the Boar Hat while he cries.

Elizabeth pouts. "I could have healed him if he stayed."

Meliodas looks at her fondly. "He doesn't know that My Love." She blushes a little.

"Oops. I forgot." He gives her another peck and rolls off of her. Sir Twigo watches Hawk run away.

"Pig... no matter." Elizabeth stands up and starts walking toward the knight, while Meliodas just looks on in confusion.

"Hey Elizabeth what are you doing?"

"Maybe if I surrender myself peacefully no one will be killed." He quickly stands up.

"Wait hang on, we just found each other, and our curse has just been lifted! I can't lose you now! I finally got you back! C'mon didn't you just say you can't afford to give up yet."

Twigo swings his sword down again. Meliodas grabs Elizabeth and rolls the two of them onto the ground again to avoid another slash from the lunatic.

Meliodas leans over Elizabeth, "Besides, I don't think he wants any of us to get out of here alive." He looks back at the guy in armor.

"Why?" Meliodas looks into her eyes to see tears, "I was so happy when I found you, I set out on my quest to find the Seven Deadly Sins, in that armor hoping no one would recognize me, but it got even better when I finally remembered you and all of our lives together! I don't want to be away from you again! Not ever again. But I don't want you to get hurt either." She grips his arms as though to push him away and pull him closer.

Meliodas smiles, "Well it's clear what we should do then. There's also something new about me you should know."

Elizabeth looks surprised as she finally notices the red tattoo on Meliodas left arm.

Back with the Knights who were watching after Allioni, who finally woke up, "Where did he go?" He looks up terrified.

"Who?" asks the short Knight.

"The boy with the sword on his back!" Allioni answers, still hysterical.

"Take it easy Allioni, Sir Twigo is about to take care of him," says one of the Knights.

"You idiots! You wouldn't dare get him angry at us, the whole kingdom will fall!" Allioni shakes with fear, "He's the real thing, I saw it when he saved me from the cliff, it's right there on his shoulder, the most dangerous one of them all!"

Elizabeth looks closer at Meliodas's tattoo, "That symbol on your arm, some kind of beast? Wait no, that's a dragon!" she says in surprise.

Twigo swings down his sword sending a slash, as it cuts into the ground, a matching cut appears on his cheek and chest while a golden light shines before blasting him back. He is now standing away from where Meliodas stood, and Elizabeth sits on the ground, with cracks in his armor, "How is this possible? My technique was flawless, I'm certain my blade struck him, but the one who actually felt the force of the blow, how could it possibly have been me!" He looks at Meliodas who holds a dragon sword hilt. "And what is that in your hand, a broken blade?"

Elizabeth is surprised. "Meliodas, are you really one of them?" _'I should've known. After all who else would get such a powerful reputation, other than my Meliodas.'_ He winks at her.

"Wait! Now your face is beginning to look familiar," Twigo looks shocked and in serious pain, "But if that's true how can you look exactly the same as you did?"

Meliodas stands as if he was about to swing his blade, "Alright times up, you figure it out yet?" he smugly asks Twigo.

"No, if that's true then... how do you still dare to exist!" Twigo swings his sword down at the Sin and Meliodas swings his blade through the air. The blade at the end of the dragon handle shines, and a golden light appears at Sir Twigo's feet. "This incomprehensible, extraordinary power, it's that of the legend." The bright light continues to shine and creates a blast that sends the armored man into the air, blasts all of his armor off him in pieces and slices cuts all over his body.

"The Seven Deadly Sins, the Sin of Wrath, the Dragon Sin," Meliodas holds his blade in front of him, "Meliodas." He puts the blade into the sheath on his back. _'I must be rusty. I almost couldn't hold back.'_

He turns around to Elizabeth, who was walking toward him, "Well Elizabeth I guess you found your first Sin. So listen... as far as the six others go, I've been using the tavern as a source of information," He smiles innocently. "But if we had a pretty girl I'm pretty sure we would see more information coming our way, so how about it? You want to come?"

Elizabeth walks over to him, "Of course. You think I would willingly leave you now." She kisses him and as Meliodas kisses her back, a giant green pig lands on the ground next to them out of nowhere. It also carried the Boar Hat tavern on its back. A rope ladder falls down the side and Hawk appears on top of the pig.

"Perfect timing isn't it guys?"

Meliodas picks up Elizabeth, in his arms bridal style, and jumps onto the ladder, "Hey Hawks mom. Way to go!" Meliodas thanks the giant green pig.

"Wait, I'm the one who brought her!"

"Alright let's head to the next town! C'mon Hawks mom," The giant green pig starts moving. As Meliodas and Elizabeth climb up the ladder.

Meliodas and Elizabeth stand on the back of the pig, while Hawk is near her eyes.

_'Whatever awaited us, this is how this new adventure began for Meliodas and I, as we started our search together for the Seven Deadly Sins.`_ thought Elizabeth.

She then looks over at Meliodas and grabs his hand. He looks up at her and smiles. "What are you thinking about Elizabeth?"

She looks at him a little longer then shakes her head and looks away. "It's nothing. It's silly."

"Nothing is ever silly when you're thinking it, My Goddess," He turns to look at her again. "Now what were you thinking about?" he asks her with a sweet smile on his face.

"I was just thinking about some of the adventures we'd been on." She sighs wistfully, "Like when we went on those missions in Danafor, the times you and I would go flying on breaks from Stigma, the carriage rides in the country, or when we went to help that human village and on our way back we found that beautiful meadow and spent all night in it just stargazing."

Meliodas looks nostalgic, "I know what you mean. Every time we would meet again, I just wanted to take you in my arms and pick up where we left off. We can talk about some of those adventures tonight if you would like?"

Elizabeth looks interested. "I would like that, but first Hawk interrupted us earlier didn't he?" she asks huskily, while she drags her fingers through Meliodas's hair. He's startled, but quickly brings her lips to his and kisses her. Meliodas once again picks her up in his arms and without breaking the kiss sits them down on the stairs of the Boar Hat.

His hearts, already pounding from the shock of emotion of just seeing her again, strain from exertion as he melts into a familiar passionate dance. They move slowly, breathing roughly as they break apart again and again, Elizabeth whispers his name between each one. His hands shake at her back, he tastes the fullness of her lips, pouring out his love through the gentle way his mouth roams along hers. She tastes the same. She smells the same. He slants his mouth to kiss her deeply as she shakes a bit in his arms, runs his fingers through the familiar texture of her hair.

They finally break the kiss to come up for air. "I missed that," Meliodas, still short of breath, says to his love.

"So did I." They just sit there cuddling in each other's arms, basking in each other's presence, until the sun sets and they go to bed.

* * *

**Sorry that this is taking so long. I've been sicker than a dog this past week. Enjoy!**


	3. Mad Mead

Chapter 2 aka Mad Mead

In the master bedroom of the Boar Hat, Elizabeth has just woken up, looking around she notices Meliodas wasn't lying next to her. She is still wearing the tight black suit from yesterday and it now had tears in it from that fight in the forest. Elizabeth gets out of bed looking out the windows as the forest passes by. She smiles thinking back to yesterday. She found Meliodas and their curse has finally been broken. _'Why is our curse broken?'_

Then the door to the room opens showing Meliodas, "Hey Elizabeth, do you mind coming downstairs for a second?"

"Sure… whatever for?"

Meliodas gets a mischievous look on his face, "You'll see."

~Downstairs~

Elizabeth walks downstairs to see Meliodas standing next to one of the tables with a box on it.

"What's in the box?" Elizabeth is suspicious of the look she sees on Meliodas's face.

"It's for you." He turns to the box and opens it, giving her the clothes from inside it. "Go try it on and come back down."

She takes the clothes and goes upstairs to change.

~After~

Elizabeth is now wearing a blue sleeveless shirt, that revealed her midriff and was backless for her wings, a white scarf, along with a black thigh high sock, also a short black skirt, and a pair of flats one black the other white, "So what is this?" Elizabeth says a little embarrassed.

"It's the tavern uniform." Meliodas gives her a thumbs up.

Hawk sighs. "Way to put your pervy thoughts on display dude."

"Hey! The only woman I've ever looked at like this is Elizabeth. All other girls pale in comparison to My Goddess." Meliodas says, while Elizabeth smiles at him.

"So while I'm waiting on tables you want me to keep track of rumours and the possible whereabouts of the Seven Deadly Sins..." Elizabeth says while Meliodas is looking at her from different points.

"Some intel on the Holy Knights would be good too." Meliodas is now standing behind her as he lifts up her skirt, looking at her underwear.

"Huh." Elizabeth is not really surprised.

Meliodas smirks. "Oh don't worry I'm just conducting a size check."

Elizabeth smiles coyly as she turns around, grabbing Meliodas hand pulling him closer, "You know you could have checked this morning if you stayed in bed." she says seductively in his ear.

Meliodas eyes glitter with lust, "Well if I did that I wouldn't have been able to see you wearing this." he says huskily.

The two of them are about to kiss when Hawks mom stops moving, which causes the building to shake. Meliodas catches the falling Elizabeth in a dip, "Careful." he says before kissing her.

"Seriously you two." Hawk is completely annoyed with them, and heads out the door.

Meliodas pulls them out of their dip, gives Elizabeth another kiss, and grabs her hand before walking out the door, closing it behind them.

The three of them walk outside to see a small village, "Our next well spring of information, Vanya Village." The three of them get off of Hawks mom, who digs herself into the ground, so that the only thing above was the Boar Hat.

The three of them start walking towards the village, "I usually buy my liquor from wherever I can get it, but Vanya's stuff is special, it's ravines run far and wide. They're filled with grout, one of the most important ingredients in ale. And the water here is also used to make Vanya ale."

The three of them are now standing on a bridge.

"Well it used to. The famous river is all dried up." Hawk says looking into the ground underneath the bridge and seeing that there was no water.

Elizabeth finds the dying plants. "Look! All the plants along the bank are wilted."

"What's going on here?" Meliodas is looking towards the village with concern.

The three of them walk to the middle of the village where people are gathered around.

"Look at all the people here, you think it's some kind of festival?" Elizabeth says with excitement.

"Let's ask," Meliodas approaches two men, "Hey how's it going?"

"Oh it's that bar keep that comes around every year." says one of the men.

"This some kind of festival?"

The other man looks annoyed, "This look like a damn festival to you!" He points to a group of men. They see the group of men are trying to pull a sword out of the ground, "We're trying to pull a sword that some Holy Knight put in the ground."

Elizabeth looks around. "A Holy Knight."

The men who are trying to pull the sword suddenly stop with exhaustion. An old man walks over to where Meliodas, Elizabeth and Hawk are standing, "A few days ago, a Holy Knight brought down his wrath, stuck his sword into the ground, while infusing it with mana."

"If we don't get this sword out of the ground, our ravines are going to dry up and we won't be able to make more Vanya ale." says one of the men who tried to pull out the sword.

"It would take a Holy Knight to pull the sword of another." says the old man.

Elizabeth turns to Meliodas, "Do you think it was the Knight from yesterday?"

"What? Oh no, that guy wasn't a Holy Knight. A real one is nothing like that at all."

Elizabeth looks at Meliodas. _'Will Meliodas do it for these people?'_

The old man looks on in despair. "It's hard to admit, but this village is finished."

"Oh give me a break." said a nasally boy's voice from behind the group, the boy emerged, he had orange spiky hair and was wearing a cloak, "A Holy Knights sword stuck in the ground is nothing. If my buddy's, the Seven Deadly Sins, were here that sword would be gone by now." the boy says smugly.

Meliodas and Elizabeth look at the boy with surprise, then an old woman from the group of people says, "Quiet Mead! And whose fault is it we're in this predicament in the first place, of all the things to say, you had to bring up those criminals too."

Mead looks at them with annoyance. "No come on, that's not why I did it."

"We had it with all your mischief and all your lying." says one man.

"You're such a jerk!" says a girl throwing a rock in Meads direction, but it ends up hitting Meliodas in the face.

Elizabeth looks shocked. _'How could they be so cruel!?'_

"Wow, I hate you guys!" Mead says getting defensive.

"Well guess what, we hate you too!" says a boy who is standing next to the girl who threw a rock at Meliodas. The people start throwing more rocks as Meliodas starts pushing Mead towards the Boar hat.

Some of the rocks still hit Meliodas as he runs, _'Why are they only hitting me?'_

"Stop all of you!" The old man from earlier orders.

"Wow that was rough." says Hawk. _'Maybe we shouldn't have come.'_

"Deep down he really is a nice boy." The old man is looking at the path the boys took. Elizabeth turns to the old man.

"Would you please tell me what could be going on with him?"

~Back in the Boar Hat~

Mead is sitting at one of the tables.

"Well I've definitely done worse to deserve something like that, so tell me kid-"

Mead interrupts him, "Don't call me that you're a kid too."

"No I'm really not." _'I'm over 3,000 years old kiddo.'_

Mead gives him a skeptical look before looking around. "What is this place?"

"My bar, the Boar Hat."

"Well I'm hungry."

"If you tell me what I want to know I'll give you some food."

"Nope food first." Mead smiles, putting his hands behind his head, while Meliodas looks annoyed.

Meliodas brings over a tray of food for Mead, while he grabs a bottle of Vanya ale and pours it into a mug for himself. Mead looks excited at the thought of the food.

"This looks great, I can't wait to dig into this." Mead picks up a piece of food, takes a bite out of it and then spits it out.

Meliodas smiles. "I never said it was going to be any good." He puts down his mug, "So is what you said true, about you being friends with the Seven Deadly Sins?" Mead huffs.

"Hmm, your food gave me amnesia." Mead then sniffs the air, "Hey are you drinking Vanya ale?" He looks at Meliodas who's drinking his mug, "Should a kid like you really be drinking that?"

"I already told you I'm not a kid." Meliodas places his mug on the table with a slight frown. _'I've been drinking Vanya ale since it was created.'_

"Man, it tastes really good doesn't it." Meliodas smiles. "It's the most sweet, full bodied ale, or so I've heard from the adults." Mead says feeling nervous at what he's saying.

Meliodas looks at the door to the Boar Hat when Elizabeth and Hawk walk in, "Hey welcome back."

"Home sweet home." Hawk says closing the door behind him.

"So Mead," Elizabeth looks at him with a serious expression which causes Mead to look nervous. "I heard you're quite the prankster. The village chief told me so."

Mead gives her an annoyed look. "So what? Who do you think you are my mother?"

Elizabeth kneels on the ground next to him, "No, but I understand the situation you're in, because I used to do the same thing to my father. You see he wasn't the father I was born too."

Mead has a surprised look on his face.

"A long time ago, I climbed a really tall tree hoping to give him a good scare. He tried to climb it, a man who never climbed a tree in his entire life. He was badly hurt and I felt really horrible, because if something bad had happened to him I would never be able to forgive myself." Elizabeth says thinking back to her past as a princess.

"I don't do it because I hate them, they're all really good to me." Mead looks down at the table.

"So why do you do it?"

Mead seems to hesitate for a second. "My Mom and Dad always travelled, I was even born on the road, when we passed Vanya there was an epidemic, and they got sick and died. That's when the people of the village took me in and raised me as one of their own, but I wasn't really part of anyone's real family." Tears start to come out of his eyes, "I started lying and pulling pranks." Elizabeth puts a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Is that why you put the bug in the Holy Knights drink, because you were upset?"

"NO!" Mead shouts slamming his hands on the table, dislodging Elizabeth's hand, "I did it because he treated the people like they were crap! The people put their heart and soul into making that ale and he just insulted it!"

Meliodas looks at the kid from over his mug. "So that stuff about you being friends with the Seven Deadly Sins?"

"I lied, but if everyone's saying the Holy Knights are going after them, and they're the bad guys, then doesn't that mean the Seven Deadly Sins are the good guys?" Mead gives them a questioning look.

Elizabeth and Hawk look at Meliodas who's finishing what was in his mug before he notices their glances, "What?" Elizabeth smiles and kisses him on the cheek.

Hawk and Mead look at them with looks of disgust.

Then there were loud noises outside, "That's coming from the village!" Mead runs out the door.

"Mead wait!" Elizabeth shouts, but the door is already closed. She looks at Meliodas, "You know what you have to do right."

Meliodas puts down his mug, "Yeah." he stands up and walks out the door, Elizabeth following behind. They walk towards the town where they notice Mead has already gathered people from around the village to try and pull out the sword using ropes tied around it.

They also notice the two Knights sitting on a well that is covered in wood. The knights start bad-mouthing the villagers. "Ha ha! It won't even move a fraction of an inch."

"We're going to sit here drinking this cheap stuff and enjoy the show." They just sit around listening to the sound of the villagers struggling.

The two of them are about to drink from their mugs… they are suddenly no longer holding. They look to find Meliodas who passed by is now holding both mugs, "Anyone who doesn't like good quality booze, doesn't deserve to drink it." He keeps on walking towards the crowd of people. Elizabeth shakes her head fondly at his behavior.

The people suddenly fall back after the ropes snap. The fall creates a cloud of dust, which covers Meliodas walking through the crowd drinking from the mugs. He puts them down by where Mead is on the ground, "That hits the spot." he walks to the sword, "Sorry guys, I don't have any money for that drink." grabs the sword's hilt, "How about this." and pulls the sword out of the ground with ease.

The people of the village look surprised at Meliodas who is able to hold a Holy Knight sword. The lazy knight look at him in shock.

"That's impossible, only a Holy Knight can draw that sword." Suddenly there's a rumbling in the ground.

"What's that sound?" The two of them are suddenly blasted off the well as a fountain of water shot out of it. All of the people look at the water, and cheer, happy that it had been returned to them. Meliodas is now standing in front of the two knights, still holding the sword.

"I think this is yours." He drops the sword in front of them. One of the knights picks up the sword as they run away.

Elizabeth, standing at the back of the crowd, smiles at Meliodas. _'He truly is incredible, not surprising since he was once known as the next demon king.'_

Mead walks up to Meliodas. "Hey mister are you really-" _'Is he a Holy Knight?'_

"Yep!" Meliodas interrupts him, "I am the proud owner of a fine drinking establishment." he puts his right hand over one of his seven hearts.

"That's not what I meant!" Mead says annoyed.

"Well isn't there something you need to be doing?" Meliodas looks behind Mead.

Mead turns around to see the people of the village, "Listen Mead, we were wrong, can you ever forgive us?" The village chief says, who's actually the old man that talked about Mead to Elizabeth.

"What right do I have to forgive you, it's not like I'm part of the village?" Mead is looking down at the ground when Meliodas pushes him forward.

"Go on."

Mead looks at Meliodas indignantly before looking at the villagers. "Hey! What do you mean go on? I don't really belong here." He tried resisting as people of the village start to call out his name. He then runs to hug the village chief, as he cries.

Meliodas looks upon the scene with a smile. "You can lie to yourself all you want, but you'll never be able to fool your own heart." Meliodas then feels someone holding his right hand, he looks up to see Elizabeth smiling at him. He smiles at her as well before pulling up their joined hands and kissing her hand, causing her to smile even brighter.

"I love you My Demon Prince."

"I love you My Goddess Princess."

~Boar Hat~

That night on the hill where the Boar Hat currently was, the people of Vanya Village were celebrating.

"To Meliodas and the Boar Hat!" one of the men cheers.

Meliodas and Elizabeth are standing in the back room, "I don't know if I can do this. I'm pretty sure I was a waitress in one of my past lives, but this is my first time in this body."

"I think I understand, but can you repeat those last few words, but slower." He gives her a look along with a quick glance up and down.

Elizabeth looks amused at Meliodas words. She then leans in closer to his ear and whispers, "Maybe later. If you're good." Meliodas blushes bright red then smirks.

"You know for a goddess, you play dirty."

She just looks at him with a smirk of her own, "I had a demon teach me how to flirt." Before kissing him on the lips. He catches her in a tight embrace, her legs wrap around his waist as she fights for the upper hand in the sudden kiss. It takes all of Meliodas's self-control to not take her then and there. He's mentally collapsing under all the sensations that course through him at her sudden intensity. The grip on her thighs tightens slightly as he adjusts the arm under her butt supporting her weight. His other arm is holding her hips tightly to his abdomen, pressing every curve against him. Her bangs tickle his face as they kiss, her arm's tight around his shoulder, the other landing in his hair where her hand grips the blonde strands gently.

"Hey you two this isn't the time! We have customers waiting." Hawk looks at the two of them with annoyance. Meliodas turns to the aggravated pig.

"Alright Hawk!" Meliodas turns back to Elizabeth as Hawk leaves the kitchen. "He can be such a killjoy." Meliodas puts her down and then leans against the counter. "Anyway, don't be nervous, just focus on your waitressing tonight, don't worry about gathering intel."

"I can do this. I've been around for over 3,000 years. I can handle anything." Elizabeth says with a determined look on her face. Luckily as Elizabeth walked around the bar with trays, memories of her past lives reminded her of times she did something like it.

After a while, she stood near the entrance of the Boar Hat watching while everyone celebrated. "Wow! I woulda thought that you hadn't worked a day in your life."

Elizabeth turns to see it was Mead who spoke to her, "What?"

"Nothing. You just look like you're a pro at this job. I was wondering... are those wings real." He points to the wings coming out of her back.

"Yes they are, you see I'm a goddess." Elizabeth says as her eyes turned into the symbol of the goddess clan.

"Wow." Mead looks at them with amazement. An old woman comes up behind him.

"Now that's enough Mead, it isn't nice to ask someone's personal business. Boys who get too big for their britches get taken out and left in the Forest of White Dreams." Mead looks scared.

"Oh no, not there!"

Elizabeth has a curious look on her face, "Forest of White Dreams?"

"It's a really spooky place. Holy Knights don't even go into it." Mead then turns back to the old woman with his hands together, "Oh Auntie Em, I'll do anything just not that!" The old woman has a smile on her face.

"Just watch what you're doing, I've got my eye on you. No more monkeying around."

Elizabeth smiles at the two of them before looking out the window, thinking of the endangered people of Britannia.

~Fort Solgres~

"O-only moments ago, we received a report from our sources at Vanya Village." A nervous knight begins, "They say that an unidentified young boy has pulled your sword from the ground, Sir Gilthunder."

Sir Gilthunder, son of late Grandmaster Zaratras, looks up at the news. The knight continues to speak, "It must have been some random fluke that allowed him t-" Gil cuts in.

"So what you're saying is that a fluke let him draw out a sword placed by a Holy Knight."

"N-no S-sir." The knight follows Gil as he walks out to a room with a large window.

"Give me the range and heading of Vanya Village. Be exact."

"Yes Sir! It's on a direct line with the fort's four-o'clock. Distance- seven point three miles." Gil turns to another guard stationed in the room.

"Would you mind terribly, if I used your spear." The guard hands it to him without hesitating.

"No Sir, please do."

Gil walks over to the window. "Should be about this angle." He raises the spear and charges it with electricity. The room fills with light and the sound of sparks, making the other knights gasp. Gil steps forward and throws the spear out the open window. It shoots across the sky like a shooting star, glinting in the night. Leaving a trail in its wake.

~Boar Hat~

Meliodas is stationed behind the counter cleaning a mug. He blinks sensing something coming. _'What was that?'_

Hawk approaches the counter. "We just had a goddess walk out of here," Meliodas puts down the mug he was cleaning, "Aren't you going to see what's wrong?"

"Hmm, gotta check on something." Meliodas walks outside the Boar Hat.

Hawk watches him leave. "Man the boss is a total slacker. Guess I'm the one that has to bring in the bacon around here."

~Hill~

Elizabeth is sitting near the edge of the hill the Boar Hat was on, when Meliodas come out. "Hey Elizabeth."

"Oh Meliodas." She looks surprised before looking over the town again. "Sorry. I know I'm meant to be working, but seeing all those people together reminds me of the families that are still in danger."

"Over here a little..." Meliodas is walking around looking past the mountains.

"I know we're both powerful, but is that enough to take back the whole kingdom… even if we're able to find the rest of the Sins." Elizabeth's wearing a look of worry on her face.

"You found me didn't you." Meliodas smiles at her, "Don't worry we will find the others. Then the Sins will rescue the royal family and the people of Britannia." His face then turns serious as he looks to the sky, "Right now there's something I need to do."

Elizabeth is concerned at his ominous words. "What's that?"

Meliodas doesn't answer, just keeps looking at the sky.

In the sky, a blue light shone, a spear surrounded by lightning is flying fast towards the direction of the village and as it passes Meliodas he grabs onto it.

The spear starts going down the mountain, cutting into it as it left behind a cloud of dust and dragging Meliodas with it.

"MELIODAS! NO!" shouts Elizabeth as she watches the spear pull him down to the ground.

Emerging from the bottom of the mountain the spear, with Meliodas still holding onto it, approaches the village. They start going through houses and as Meliodas holds the spear, it rips off his left sleeve revealing his Seven Deadly Sins tattoo. Meliodas spins around digging his feet into the ground as he holds the spear. Then he turns around.

The spear finally stops as Meliodas leans his head back. He opens his eyes which briefly go dark, and doing a quick spin he throws the spear straight into the sky, faster than it was when it reached the village; returning from where it was thrown from.

~Fort Solgres~

The scene changes to show the window back at the tower. Gil looks up. The spear he had thrown streaks through the window with a crash. Dust poured out of the windows as the tower shakes and crumbles to pieces. The smoke clears as a bird flies off into the distance.

A knight wades through the smoke. "Sir Gilthunder! Are you alright? Sir Gil-" He gasps in surprise as he comes across the chair where Gilthunder is still sitting. His cheek dripping blood from where the spear had grazed his cheek, the spear is stuck deep in the back of the chair. Gilthunder smiles.

"It's just as I thought." He says, "You're alive aren't you, Meliodas." _'Please help me.'_

~Vanya Village~

Looking at the hand that held the spear, there is a faint mark left behind, "Meliodas!" shouts Elizabeth. Looking up he sees Elizabeth flying just before she lands in front of him "Are you alright? Why did you let that spear drag you? You could have just stopped it without even trying."

Meliodas is trying to hide his hand from her. "I'm fine, and I was just trying to get a feeling about where to send it back to. You seem to forget that I'm a little out of practice with this amount of power."

Elizabeth with a raised eyebrow asks, "I'll let the spear dragging you thing go, but if you're so sure that you're fine then you have no reason to keep your hands behind your back do you?"

Meliodas looks sheepish and gives her his slightly burned hand. She scolds him about the importance of telling her when he's injured as she heals his hand and then kisses it. He gives her hand a kiss as well. They both get back to the problem.

"At least it seems no one else was injured… The energy on the spear was familiar. Was it from the Holy Knight who left his sword in the ground?"

"Probably so. I think it's best that we leave immediately." Meliodas says looking at the villagers as they inspect the damage.

"But what about the people of the village?" Hawk who appears points out.

"I think we would only cause more trouble if we stayed." Meliodas says as more people arrive. Hawk looks down despondently.

"I wish there was somewhere we could hide out."

"Wait a minute." Elizabeth puts her finger under her chin in thought. Hawk looks at her.

"What is it?"

"Earlier Mead said he would do anything not to be sent to the Forest of White Dreams, apparently not even Holy Knights go there."

Hawk nods. "That sounds like the perfect place to hide." Meliodas also nods.

"Fine, but we won't be going there to hide, we're going to be doing exactly what we're supposed to."

"What do you mean?" Hawk says, wondering what Meliodas means, when Elizabeth then looks surprised before turning to excitement.

"You don't think?"

Meliodas smiled at her. "Yep! I bet one of us is living out there."

The three of them return to the Boar Hat and Hawk's mom emerges from the ground carrying it. The giant green pig starts leaving the village.

"Okay, time to find another Sin." Meliodas says from the inside or the Boar Hat. As the giant green pig leaves, the people of Vanya Village wave goodbye.

* * *

**My writing style has changed a little since I wrote this story so I'm going to spend some time fixing it. **


	4. The Forest of White Dreams and Memories

Chapter 3 aka The Forest of White Dreams and Memories

~Liones Capital City Castle 10 Years Ago~

A knight burst into a room looking for the Grandmaster. He came upon a bloody figure, stuck through with many swords, hanging on the wall. "Grand Master Zaratros!" Someone yelled. "This is horrible!"

"How could this happen to the leader of the Holy Knights?" The same voice asked in horrified confusion.

"Father…" Gilthunder was standing between two guards, all of them looking at the scene in horror.

"Oh, Master Gilthunder!" The guard on the right said seemingly surprised he was there.

"Please young master, you mustn't look!" The guards rushed to block his view. Gil rushed forward.

"Who did this?!" He yelled, tears beginning to pool in his eyes. "Who killed my father?!"

~Vanya Village Now~

Gilthunder rode on a horse into Vanya Village, he looked at the spot where his sword was once in the ground. Another knight rode up beside him.

"Sir, it seems he left the village and made his way southwest." Gilthunder turned, looking southwest.

"Is that so? The Forest of White Dreams lies in that direction."

"Yes, but Sir… that place is-" Gilthunder interrupted him by riding off in the middle of his sentence. "Sir Gilthunder!" The knight called after him, but received no answer.

Gilthunder rode off out of town followed by his knights, only one thing on his mind. '_Meliodas.'  
_  
A raven watched from a tree as the knights rode out of town.

~Forest of White Dreams~

Outside a forest covered in a fog, was Hawks mom watching from a cliff. Inside the forest Meliodas, Elizabeth and Hawk were walking.

"Meliodas, are you sure about this? We've been out here three hours now, there's no sign of any animals, much less any humans either." Hawk said.

"You're right Hawk." Elizabeth said, "Do you really think we'll be able to find one of the Seven Deadly Sins here?" Meliodas walked up to her.

"Probably." Hawk snorted in anger.

"You mean we came here without any solid evidence?!" Hawk looked around warily. "I heard there's a terrifying monster who lurks around here watching and waiting-" Elizabeth suddenly yelled out in fright. "What is it?!" Hawk yelled, turning to her.

"I can feel something grabbing me from behind." Elizabeth turned around and noticed it was Meliodas who had his hand up her skirt.

"Relax, it's just me." he said calmly.

"Oh thank goodness." Elizabeth sighed, relieved. "If you wanted to grab me you should ask me first when we're in such a creepy place."

"This isn't the time!" said Hawk, annoyed at the two of them.

Meliodas took his hand out from under Elizabeth's skirt, "Alright let's get going."

"Hey Meliodas…"

He turned towards her. "Yeah."

"Do you remember when this place was just a forest? When it wasn't so filled with fear and despair."

Meliodas looked a little forlorn, "Yeah I do, but that was way back in our Stigma days. It hasn't been like that since around 2,600 years ago or so. I have a hard time remembering anything that doesn't involve you from that long ago." He became cheery again. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh nothing important I was just feeling nostalgic for a moment."

"Come on guys this place is freaky." Hawk, as always, interrupted.

"Coming! Wait hold on a minute." Elizabeth reached her hand toward her behind and felt nothing under her skirt, '_They're gone.'_

"Hey is everything alright?" said Meliodas who was ahead of her.

"Oh yes everything's fine." she said embarrassed, '_Okay think calmly Elizabeth, where could they be, I had them on when I got up this morning. Did I leave them in the bathroom? No I wouldn't have forgotten them there Meliodas would have taken them… Did he? No! I remember putting them on before we even left the bar… They're really gone!'_

"C'mon slow pokes!" said Hawk who was ahead of both of them.

"Hey hold your bacon, there's nothing good about travelling with a nervous piggy." said Meliodas smiling and then he suddenly stopped at what he saw in front of him.

"Who are you calling a nervous piggy?" said multiple Hawks. The Hawks looked surprised at each other, "What's going on?" said one Hawk, "I'm so confused." said another Hawk, "Yeah I know right." another Hawk said.

The Hawks continued to talk while Meliodas and Elizabeth just stared at them confused, "This is the monster of the forest?"

"I for one find it terrifying" Meliodas deadpanned.

All the Hawks started running towards them, "Meliodas, please you gotta help me, I'm the real one!" said one Hawk.

"Yeah whatever you say you faker!" said a second Hawk.

"Hey zip it porky!" said a third Hawk.

Meliodas just scratched his cheek, then ran through them, hitting each one and they all landed in a pile, "He's not a nice man." said one Hawk.

"Oh Hawk, are you alright?" asked Elizabeth.

All the Hawks looked surprised as they then jumped behind Elizabeth with tears in their eyes, "Elizabeth help!" said one Hawk, "Please, even my Momma never hit me like that." they all said.

"Hawk?" said Elizabeth, but then she noticed a shadowy figure standing in front of her and the figure had wings.

There was now only one Hawk on the ground, he looked around as other shadowy figures started to emerge from the fog, "Huh, I'm so confused?"

Meliodas noticed as the other shadow figures started moving towards Elizabeth. There were no longer shadows covering the figures and it revealed that they were all Elizabeth.

"What?" said one Elizabeth.

"I'm the real one, you know that right." said another Elizabeth.

"No I'm the real one!" said a third Elizabeth.

Meliodas looked at all the Elizabeth's, he smiled as he put his under his chin, "Wow what a group of beauties."

The Elizabeth's started to approach him, "Meliodas!" they all shouted.

Meliodas jumped out of the way quickly, then landed on a small stone hill looking down at them all, "Oh my, how can I tell which one of you is the real one." said Meliodas teasingly.

"You can trust me." said one Elizabeth.

"Yeah I'll do whatever you want." said a second Elizabeth.

"Yes." Meliodas smiled, "Starting right now I want you to do whatever I say." All the Elizabeth's looked confused, "What do we say?"

"Oh of course." they all said.

"Okay," Meliodas took a seat on the ground, "First raise your right hand in the air." All the Elizabeth's raised their right hand, "Now call out my name and be naughty."

"Meliodas hi." they said.

"Now squeeze your boobs." said Meliodas, they all did what he said and some of them laughed, "This is amazing!"

Hawk then jumped on him, "Can you just find the real one!"

"Leave this place!~" said a dark voice which made Hawk shiver and close his eyes, "Leave this forest, you will never make out alive!~" said another dark voice.

"Okay I got it!" Meliodas raised his right arm which caused Hawk to fall off him, "Jump as high as you can."

All of them jumped in the air, when one of them sat on the ground holding down her skirt, "I'm sorry I can't do that!"

The Elizabeth's in the air looked confused when there was the sound of something being taken out of sheathe. Each one of the Elizabeth's in the air was hit as Meliodas appeared on the ground holding the handle of the broken sword.

The Elizabeth's in the air vanished in a puff of smoke, 3 small blue creatures with yellow eyes emerged from it and started running away from them.

"They're just hide-in-seeks, prankster imps, we thought they were the monster of the forest?" said Hawk.

"They could be heading towards something, let's follow them." said Meliodas.

"Right!" said Elizabeth about to follow him when he stood in front of her.

"Oh and you might need these." he said handing over something small that was pink, Elizabeth unfolded it, it was her underwear, "Later." he said with a wink and started running towards the direction the hide-in-seeks were going.

"You stole my underwear!" said Elizabeth, shocked as she followed him. "I told you to stop doing that centuries ago!" She quickly put them on and flew long enough to catch back up with them.

As they followed the hide-in-seeks they noticed someone in the distance, it looked like from where they were, a girl wearing an orange suit, with two blue arm braces and orange boots.

"Oh no! Is that where they're heading? Are they going to attack her?" said Hawk.

"A defenceless little girl like that."

"I know right she's just a little..." said Hawk as they reached her. It was revealed the girl was actually a giant.

"Lady Diane!" said one of the hide-in-seeks.

"Whoa, she's huge." said Hawk.

"Lady Diane, we accidentally let some Holy Knight trespassers into the forest." said another hide-in-seek.

"Lady Diane." said the first hide-in-seek, the giant's violet eyes then opened and she stood up looking down at Meliodas, Elizabeth and Hawk.

"Some Holy Knights got in huh?" said Diane with an angry look on her face.

"Wait we're not-!" said Elizabeth, then Meliodas was gone, she noticed Diane had grabbed him and was holding him in her right hand.

"You're in trouble, Holy Knight." said Diane.

"Hold on! You're not gonna eat him are you?" Hawk shouted from the ground.

"You let go of Meliodas right now!" said Elizabeth as her goddess symbol appeared in her eyes.

Diane noticed Elizabeth's eyes, "Wait are you a goddess?" she asked, then she had a different look on her face as she looked at Meliodas, "Did she say Meliodas?" looking at him in her right hand.

"Yo Diane, how long has it been, like 10 years." said Meliodas smiling,

"Hmm..." said Diane, she then smiled, "CAPTAIN!" she yelled happily and started rubbing his face with one of her fingers, "Captain, Captain, Captain!"

"Wait Captain?" said Elizabeth.

"Hang on," Hawk cut in. "A giant chick with pigtails is one of the Seven Deadly Sins?" Hawk then noticed the red snake tattoo on her right leg, "Wait you mean this is Diane the Serpent Sin of Envy?"

Diane then noticed Hawk, "Captain you thought of everything. You remembered how much I love whole roasted pig."

"Wait, don't eat me lady!" Hawk was then placed over an open fire, "That's hot!" complained Hawk, who was tied to a stick over the fire.

"How can I eat you without cooking you first." said Diane.

"Something's starting to smell good." said Meliodas sniffing the air.

"Hey don't pretend like I'm not here!" said Hawk angrily.

"Meliodas… will you please help me get him down from there." Elizabeth gave Meliodas a pout and he complied. They then finally take Hawk off the spit. Hawk was on the ground where there was a red mark on his behind from the fire and he was blowing at it.

"So it's just the two of you then?"

"Plus the talking pig."

Diane straightened up from her crouched position and turned to look at Meliodas with a strange smile. "Oh, is that so?" She asked him.

"Yup, and we uh-" Meliodas' answer was cut off as Diane yelled and slammed him on to the forest floor, sending up a cloud of dust.

"You filthy womanizer!" Diane screamed, sending Meliodas flying through the forest leaving a nice crater in a rock.

Meliodas picked himself up off the ground, "Oh-kay." Elizabeth turned to him, worried.

"Meliodas!"

Diane collapsed to her knees, crying. "After all this time I'm finally back with the man I love and now he's with another woman! You've just broken my heart into a million pieces!" She looked down at Meliodas who had made his way back over to the group. "But still, if you have an explanation I'm ready to listen."

Meliodas put his hand on the back of his neck, "Honestly, there's not a-" Diane punched him with both fists repeatedly, making Elizabeth and Hawk gasp from where they were standing off to the side.

"I don't wanna hear any of your excuses! You're nothing but a lying jerk!" She continued yelling and punching in the background as Elizabeth turned to Hawk.

"Think he's ok?"

Hawk just said, "Wow! She's nuts."

Diane was still yelling, "You're a big jerk! You hear me?!" She slammed her hands down so hard a mushroom cloud of dust was created.

Elizabeth suddenly looked determined. '_I've got to stop her before Meliodas ends up seriously injured.'_ She creates a bright light, and when Diane stops to cover her eyes, flies over to Meliodas and puts a shield around them both. "That is enough! I want no more unnecessary violence!"

Diane then looked down at Elizabeth, "Just who are you anyway? Why do you have the goddess symbol and those wings?"

"My name is Elizabeth, Lady Diane, I've been travelling with Meliodas to help find the Seven Deadly Sins. As for your other question it's a long story."

"You should probably stop trying to beat me up. I'll be able to explain it." said Meliodas.

Meliodas told the story of how he and Elizabeth met a long time ago and their curse, while Elizabeth healed his bumps and bruises. Diane had a sad look on her face as she realised the Captain wouldn't fall in love with her, but for some reason she was okay with it.

"So to finally put an end to all the corruption and stop the Holy Knights from rampaging, Elizabeth's trying to get the Seven Deadly Sins together."

Diane was sitting sadly on her knees, looking miserable. "I didn't know about that. I guess I'm always the one who jumps to conclusions, aren't I. Forgive me." Diane continued, somehow looking even sadder. She looked over at Hawk. "And I'm sorry I tried to eat you, piggy."

Hawk jumped up, "You think that makes it alright?! You stuffed my belly full of fruit and burned up my backside!"

Diane unleashes a glare at him and he flinches.

"If you even think about laying a hand on me again, my mama is gonna let you have it!"

"Anyway, I'm just gonna do what I can to help Elizabeth gather the Seven Deadly Sins. Cause I wanna find 'em too."

"Well, if you're sure that's the case, then I'll come along with you guys." Diane said, standing up. Elizabeth gasped in joy. "You'll have the help of the Serpent Sin of Envy, the giant, Diane!"

"Really... that's great!" said Meliodas.

"Thank you for joining us Diane, however I noticed that you seem to be missing some memories." said Elizabeth thinking back to earlier when she had her goddess symbol out and was looking at Diane.

Diane looked surprised that Elizabeth knew, "Yeah a long time ago, I forgot something, it was a good few years of my life that I can't remember." she said.

"If you would like, I can return them." said Elizabeth.

"Really?" asked Diane smiling.

Elizabeth nodded and then pointing her hands at Diane's head a bright light shined at her.

_Flashback_

"_Harlequin, do you love me?"_

"_Y-Yeah, I do love you…"_

"_You said you'll grant me one wish, right?"_

"_Then…"_

"_I want you to love me forever."_

"_I promise! I will always love you and I will always be by your side!"_

_End_

As the light stopped shining Diane looked down, "Captain, have you heard anything about King?"

"No sorry, is there something wrong?" said Meliodas.

"I just need to tell him something important." she said putting her left hand above her heart. "By the way Goddess… I'm sorry for my attitude earlier. I'm just not used to new people I guess."

Elizabeth beamed, "It's no problem. I understand."

Suddenly a squeaky voice broke in, "Oh, thank goodness! Finally we can live in peace again."

"For years she's been threatening us, saying she'd make us all pay if we didn't give her shelter!" The Imps started laughing in joy. Hawk stared at them,

"They can be free now. So beautiful!" His voice was thick with unshed tears.

Then all of a sudden a red eyed crow appeared. It cawed loudly, which echoed off the trees and started the group on the forest floor.

"What was that?!" Elizabeth asked, suspicious. Diane looked around,

"This is strange, I thought there weren't any animals left who lived in this part of the forest." Hawk sniffed.

"Smells like it's gonna rain."

"Wait!" Hawk shouted, "Look at that!" They all looked up in alarm. Storm clouds were collecting in a funnel above their heads, lightning flashing. "What's going on?"

"Thunderclouds?" Elizabeth wondered, speaking softly in worry.

Lightning struck down and when they could see again, Meliodas was tied up by lightning bonds, "Would you look at that."

"Captain!" "Meliodas!" Lightning struck again, now Diane along with Elizabeth and Hawk had lightning bonds on them as well.

"This is new." said Elizabeth looking at the bonds in curiosity. '_What else have I missed throughout the years?'_

"I can't move at all." said Hawk.

There was then the sound of someone moving in armour in the distances, "It seems we meet at last, you Deadly Sins." said a male voice. Emerging from the fog was a man in silver and blue armour with pink hair.

"This power..." said Diane.

"Yep, Holy Knight aren't you?" said Meliodas.

Elizabeth was looking at his face, "Gilthunder?" she then realised something, "Gilthunder is that you?" she said knowing who the man is.

"Wait you know him?" Meliodas asked her.

"Yes," Elizabeth answered. "Since I was a little girl, when he was my father's attendant. As an aid to the king, and son of the Holy Knight's Grandmaster, he was always at the palace...so I...kinda grew up with him." Meliodas looked back at Gilthunder.

"Son of the grandmaster..." he said thinking, then smiled looking at Gilthunder, "Hey! Wait are you little Gil?"

"You know him too!" said Elizabeth surprised.

"Sure!" Meliodas answered, "I even gave him lessons occasionally when I'd find myself at the royal palace!" He turned to Gilthunder, "Wow, you've really grown up! Then again it has been 10 years since I've seen you." Gilthunder only narrowed his eyes, frowning even more.

"If you have the time to prattle on in this manner, it might be better spent trying to escape those bonds."

"Hey, this lightning's familiar." Hawk said. Meliodas answered,

"I know what you mean, when a certain someone locked up Vanya's water supply and then tried to blow the village away with that lightning coated spear, that was you, wasn't it?" He asked Gilthunder.

Elizabeth looked at him with a shocked expression, "No Meliodas you have to be wrong!" she said looking at Meliodas, "Gilthunder would never-!" but she stopped talking when she saw the look on Gilthunders face hadn't changed from what Meliodas said, "No you couldn't have."

Diane stood up straight, straining against her bonds, "These can't hold me!"

"That's useless." Gilthunder said. Diane turned her head to look at him, but continued to strain against the lightning. Meliodas looked over at her,

"Diane, just save it, don't bother."

"Captain…" She protested, her voice strained. Gilthunder suddenly appeared behind Meliodas, bringing his sword to hover over the Sin's shoulder.

"Do you know why the Holy Knights are after the heads of the Seven Deadly SIns?" Meliodas turned his head as much as he could,

"Not really."

"Half of them are seeking revenge and total eradication of the rebel order that plotted to overthrow the kingdom. The other half want to do glorious battle and vanquish the legendary warriors to prove their own strength."

"And which half are you in?" Meliodas asked him.

"Both of them."

"Gilthunder stop this! This isn't the way."

"No." Gilthunder continued as if Elizabeth never spoke, "I want more." Meliodas narrowed his eyes,

"Is that so?" He said, his voice eerily calm.

"Yes, to avenge the death of my father, Zaratras, Holy Knight's Grandmaster. And to show that I am even greater than he, the most powerful Holy Knight ever known. Killing you will prove that."

"So you're under the impression that I'm the one who murdered your father, is that right?"

"Are you saying you're not?"

"No idea. See the thing is, I don't actually remember very much from back then."

"Captain?" Diane asked, looking worried, Elizabeth concerned.

"Meliodas…" Meliodas continued, not making eye contact with either of them.

"The last thing I remember is all of us being summoned to the old castle out on the edge of town."

~Ten Years Ago Liones~

The Seven Deadly Sins were walking down the hallway. Meliodas was speaking. "I was hoping to get in a few drinks to celebrate the founding of the kingdom. King's voice answered him,

"You've never needed an excuse to knock 'em back before." Meliodas chuckled,

"Guess you're right."

"It sounded like the Grandmaster has something important to discuss." Merlin cut in.

"Maybe he's gonna give us a special reward for our excellent handling of that business with the troll queen!" Diane said.

"Well it's all the same to me." Meliodas said, "Let's get scolded then go celebrate."

Ban laughed. "You expect a dressing down?" They opened the door.

Meliodas called out in greeting, "Hey, we're here!"

Upon opening the door the Sins gasped in surprise, "Grandmaster!" It was truly a gruesome sight, the body of the Grandmaster was hanging on the far wall, suspended there by at least 20 spears sticking out of him, his blood dripping down to the floor.

"That's brutal!" Ban yelled.

"He's a pincushion!" Diane said.

"Who would do this?!" Kind exclaimed.

"More importantly," Merlin said, "Why would they target the leader of the Holy Knights?"

"You're right." Ban answered, "The Grandmaster is the linchpin of the kingdom's defense, he's practically a war god. Whoever killed him is a traitor who must be plotting to overthrow Liones."

"And they knew precisely what his loss was gonna mean." Diane added. Suddenly a loud sound came from outside, Meliodas ran to look out the window.

"Wait, what?" A large gathering of Holy Knights was descending upon the old castle.

"We're surrounded by every knight in the kingdom!" Meliodas continued.

"There are too many of 'em out there to count." Diane said, "What are they planning to-" She was cut off as the castle suddenly shook, dust pouring down from the ceiling.

"Damn! They've started their attack!" Ban yelled. Meliodas turned from the window.

"We'll figure it out, but for now let's split up! We'll meet again later!"

"Understood."

The Sins scattered.

_**Captain, I'm Sorry.  
**_  
Meliodas turned at the sound of the voice, and then everything went black.

~Forest of White Dreams Now~

"Those words are the last thing I remember, the rest is blank. And then the next thing I knew I was lying down in a cellar somewhere. That's when I met Hawk."

Elizabeth looked at him, "I knew it! I knew you weren't the ones who killed the Grandmaster!" '_He should have told me about the memory problem.'_

"That makes no difference to me." Gilthunder said, causing Elizabeth to gasp.

"What are you saying?!"

"Rebels and traitors who plotted to overthrow the kingdom, that's all you people are."

"Enough! You must stop this! Didn't you hear what he just told you?! They aren't the ones who murdered him, don't you understand?! These are good people!" '_Mostly.'_ He turned to look at her,

"Elizabeth." She gasped, "The kingdom wants you taken into protective custody." He turned away again, "But, I haven't the slightest interest in that." He takes his sword from Meliodas' throat and puts it to Elizabeth's. "Alive or dead it makes no difference to me. You're nothing but a grain of sand in the road being traveled." Gilthunder pointed his sword at Elizabeth making her bonds vanish, "Go now, the Sins and I have some unfinished business."

Elizabeth looked angry, then standing in front of Meliodas stretched her arms out, her goddess symbol appearing in her eyes and light appearing in her palm, "I will not let you harm them."

Gilthunder was unaffected at the sight of her power. '_What's happened to Lady Elizabeth? Better question: how do I get her out of here?' _He then noticed Hawk crawling on the ground near him, "Oh, it's over for me, I feel like I'm being electrocuted, oh..." said Hawk who was then kicked away by Gilthunder.

"Hawk no!" said Elizabeth. She turned to Meliodas and he nodded. She then released the light and flew towards the direction Hawk was kicked knowing he needed her help more than Meliodas did.

"Now that we've got that out of the way!" said Gilthunder pointing his sword at Meliodas and Diane, "I will release you from your bonds."

"Nah, that's okay, I got it." said Meliodas shaking his head to get rid of the bonds, Diane pulled apart her bonds, "Could have escaped whenever we wanted to."

"Just so you know, I could eliminate you easily." said Gilthunder.

"I doubt that, you were never able to beat me in the past." he said with a calm expression on his face. '_That's not even including my returned power.'_

"But that was back then, I am now more powerful than any of the Seven Deadly Sins." said Gilthunder looking Meliodas in the eye.

Meliodas still looked calm, but then his eyes opened a bit more, meaning that he realised something. '_He's being watched, but by what?'_ "Well we'll just have to see won't we." he said then looking up Diane, "Don't interfere, alright Diane."

"Oh you get to have all the fun." she said putting her hands on her hips in a huff.

"Don't want to risk me beating you all at once." said Gilthunder getting into a fighting stance when Meliodas reached his left foot out.

"Can't you tell when your elder is just trying to be nice." said Meliodas. The two of them had looks in their eyes that meant they were ready to fight.

They swung their swords at the same moment. A bolt of lightning flashed in the sky. Gilthunder looked up to see Meliodas still standing, then he swung his broken sword. Gilthunder gasped as he was flung away.

"Like I said, right back at you, remember that?"

"And I told you." Gilthunder was suddenly behind Meliodas, poised to strike, "You'll be dead!" He swung his sword at Meliodas' unprotected back, but Meliodas dodged at the last minute, doing a backflip over Gilthunder's swing.

"Come on!" Gilthunder continued on the offensive, swinging at Meliodas over and over again. Meliodas continued to dodge his swings, leading Gilthunder through the forest. They paused for a moment, Meliodas standing on top of a boulder looking down at Gilthunder. '_Gotta make this look good.'_

"Gotta admit, you've really improved over the years."

"Yet you still believe you're superior to me!" He jumped and swung at Meliodas, who held his sword in a block with his own. Preventing Gilthunder from coming any closer. "I can sense it, you're beginning to feel a little fear creeping in." Meliodas just smiled, seemingly unbothered.

"Am I?" They both jumped up, exchanging strikes at they fell back to the ground. "Well you're persistent." Gilthunder swung at Meliodas causing a cloud of dust to rise. When it cleared Gilthunder striked, supposedly too fast for Meliodas to counter. Meliodas was flung through the air.

"Too slow!" Gilthunder yelled.

Meliodas then landed on the ground creating a crater, he was facing up smiling, "I can't believe you've gotten this powerful." he said standing up, Gilthunder now stood behind him with his sword up and lightning around it.

"Don't worry, I will bring the other Sins down with you soon enough." he said slashing at Meliodas back, which slices open his shoulder causing Meliodas to fall forward to the ground.

"Captain..." said Diane after Meliodas falls to the ground.

Gilthunder used his leg to turn Meliodas onto his back, "Any last words?"

He opened his eyes slowly, "The other Sins, what happened to them, surely you have to know what happened to them?" he asked while acting in pain.

"Fine then." said Gilthunder putting his sword back in its sheath, "Out of the remaining five only three are left unaccountable, the Fox Sin of Greed is being held in Baste Prison, the Grizzly Sin of Sloth has already been slain." said Gilthunder.

"What!" said Diane, eyes opened wide. '_No! Please he can't be gone!'_

"And is interred in the Necropolis." Gilthunder tilted his head. "But you needn't worry, I'll make sure they all join you shortly."

Meliodas slowly closed his eyes "Thank you."...before suddenly opening them and jumping up. His strength suddenly restored. "Awesome!" He turned to face Gilthunder. "Great fight! Little Gil." Gilthunder only stared. "Baste prison and the Necropolis huh, I'll check out one or the other."

"So that was it," Gilthunder replied, staring at Meliodas. "You wished to know your comrades' whereabouts, so you allowed me to strike you down." Meliodas smirked at him,

"Why don't we finish this another time, kay?" Gilthunder grabbed the hilt of his sword.

"I think not." He swung at Meliodas, who looked surprised before quickly dodging. '_I hope he understood my message.' _He came at Meliodas repeatedly, forcing him to stay on the defensive. Eventually he appeared behind Meliodas, he held the blade of his sword at Meliodas' neck. "This is goodbye."

"See ya~" Meliodas waved at him.

Gilthunder wondered what he meant, but then Diane picked him off the ground, "You heard the Captain, some other time." She started pulling her hand back to throw Gilthunder out of the forest.

"Unhand me!" Gilthunder growled, lightning shooting across his entire body. Diane merely looked at him.

"Here's a tip for you ok? Girls get really annoyed when sniveling little runts like you try to shock them!" She yelled the last part, throwing Gilthunder as far as she could into the distance.

Meliodas waved goodbye, "Hey thanks Diane! Nice throw." He points at the blue brace that was on her right hand. "Wow that brace is ruined."

Diane looked at it and noticed it was all torn up, "Aw man. King made me this."

Hawk and Elizabeth then showed up, "Hey!" Hawk yelled, stomping his hoof on the forest floor, "You've gotta lotta guts kicking me around like I'm some little pink bouncing ball! But it'll be my turn next time!" Elizabeth looked at the two Sins worriedly.

"The two of you weren't hurt, right?" Meliodas just raised a hand,

"We're good." Hawk suddenly cut in,

"Hey! Where'd that swine go anyway?!" He looked around angrily. Meliodas tilted his head.

"Aren't you a swine?" Diane wiped at her mouth.

"Who smells delicious!" Hawk whimpered.

Elizabeth, then noticed the blood on Meliodas' shoulder, rushed over to his side. "Meliodas! You were hurt!"

He looked at his shoulder. "I'm fine. It's just a scratch."

"No you're not, I'll heal this when we get back. What did I tell you I would do if you didn't tell me about your injuries?" She looked at him with a stern yet somehow mischievous look. Meliodas gained a nervous smile on his face.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. Could I have one more chance please?"

"Fine. One more chance. If you hide an injury from me again I will tell them."

"Thank you My Goddess." said Meliodas smiling at her, while taking her hand, and she smiled at him.

Diane smiled, feeling happy for the two of them, but her look then turned sad as she remembered something Gilthunder said, "_The Grizzly Sin of Sloth has already been slain."_ her hands began to shake. "Captain?"

Meliodas looked up at her, "You think it's true, what he said… that... that King's gone?" she asked him feeling worried.

Meliodas face then turned serious, "Don't worry, I'm sure King's alright. He's too stubborn and tough to go down that easily."

Diane smiled a little, "Yeah you're probably right."

"Well let's head back." said Meliodas as he, Elizabeth, Diane and Hawk walked back to the Boar Hat.

"But what about me, my rump feels like it's been roasted!" said Hawk complaining.


	5. Poisonous Illusions

Chapter 4 aka Poisonous Illusions

~Village Church~

People were gathered throughout the main hall of a candlelight lit church.

"Dear God, please return the young men of the village who were taken away by the kingdom."

"Dear God, I pray you'll punish the Holy Knights for what they've done."

Suddenly there was a sound from the sky outside the church, so loud that the men looked up in confusion. Gilthunder was hurtling through the sky, a blaze of lightning trailing behind him. He was thrown through the walls of the church, which collapsed in a cloud of dust, and again, a raven was seen watching from a tree. Gilthunder walked through the mess of the church. His armor shining brilliantly in contrast to the rubble and hurt men collapsed on the ground. He walked by, heedless of their pleas and calls for help.

_'Forgive me for my actions. I hope one day you don't look upon me with hatred and that I may atone for my evil deeds.'_

~Road to Baste Prison~

In Meliodas and Elizabeth's room of the Boar Hat, Meliodas was sitting on the bed with his shirt off, revealing the wound on his back caused by Gilthunder's sword. Elizabeth placed her hands on his back, a bright light shined and the wound was gone.

"There, all better now." said Elizabeth who was sitting behind him.

"Thanks." Meliodas was picking up his white shirt. "You know this reminds me of the old days."

"How so?"

"Me getting injured. You would fix me up, and usually since I was a good patient getting a treat of some sort." He looked at her teasingly. She gave a similar look.

"Oh? And what is my "good patient" wanting? A piece of candy… or a kiss by chance."

He gave her a look then pulled her closer. She held her breath as he came closer. Honestly she was starting to get excited.

He stopped an inch from her face and all at once, his hand grasped the underside of her chin then he reaches up and captures her mouth with his chastely, before he pulls her close into his lap, kissing her deeply almost feeling insatiable from the plump feel of her mouth and the reactive way she responds to him. Gods he doesn't even know if he's well versed in the act having refused to place his mouth on another besides Elizabeth. The emotions shared like this are too intense, meant for only someone he loves. Breaking the kiss as she sways slightly dazed he murmurs lowly grazing her mouth with his as his fingers skim her flesh under her blouse at her back. "Thanks for healing me again."

She leans away and gets off his lap as he pouts. "You're welcome."

Elizabeth looks out the window of their room. She sees Diane holding a piece of her hair, looking down as she walks, "Meliodas, what is Diane's relationship with King?"

Meliodas put on his red tie and then responded. "Well I can't say for certain, but I'm pretty sure that when they met to form the Sins, King recognized Diane. I asked her if they knew each other and she told me she didn't." He gives her a smirk, "She also said I was the only man for her." He chuckles. "She didn't know that she's not my type." Elizabeth looks at him with a fake innocent expression.

"What is your type?" He plays along.

"Oh I have a thing for gorgeous, kind, and intelligent Goddesses."

Elizabeth dramatically sighs, "Oh where could we find one?"

Meliodas gets a mischievous look on his face. He pretends to look around and then in the blink of an eye grabs Elizabeth in his arms and starts tickling her.

"Meli-Melio-Mel-Hahahahahahahaha-MELIODAS! STOP PLEASE!" She keeps laughing.

Meliodas is laughing as well. "Nope! I heard that you have to subdue a Goddess in order to keep one around." She finally gathers enough strength to pull his lips to hers to give him a kiss, which causes him to lose concentration and give her time to get away.

"That's enough Meliodas… come on stop pouting." It's true he started pouting. "You were telling me about King and Diane possibly knowing each other."

"Well, I'm just not sure. We'll have to ask Diane sometime."

Elizabeth shakes her head. "If she wants to tell us she will." Meliodas gave her a fond smile, kissed her hand and pulled her out of the room to outside of the Boar Hat. They come out to see Diane still looking distracted.

"Lady Diane!" Diane looks up to see Elizabeth flying not too far in front of her.

"Oh! Hi Elizabeth. You know you can drop the "Lady" thing right?"

"Sorry, it's a habit in this life." Meliodas starts laughing.

"I remember when you addressed everyone as Master or Miss! You kept calling me "Master Meliodas" no matter how often I begged you not to." Elizabeth blushes, while Diane watches amused.

"In case you have forgotten Meliodas, I was a serving girl in that life and I was required to call people by a title!"

"Hey Captain? Are you injuries all healed?" Diane asked looking at him.

"Yeah, Elizabeth's magic still works perfectly" said Meliodas looking at his love proudly as the Goddess blushes.

Diane then looked forward, "So where are we going first?"

"Well, I know you want to find out what happened to King, but Baste Prison is closer and Ban may be a big help in finding King."

"Alright..." Diane pouted.

"Why don't you tell me more about King, do your remember when you first met him?" asked Elizabeth smiling.

Diane smiled, "I found him injured a long time ago, he was floating down a river. When he woke up he had no memory of who he was. He's actually the one who made me these clothes." she said remembering those days.

"But one day, he remembered he was Harlequin, King of the fairies-"

"Wait King, is the Fairy King?" said Elizabeth surprised remembering her old friend Gloxinia.

"Yeah, but that same night, we could see from the cave we were staying in the village that was built nearby was on fire and so King told me to stay behind. The next morning I felt something hit me, that's when I lost the memory of our time together." Diane said now feeling depressed about the time lost.

"He was sad that he broke his promise to you." said Meliodas.

"What?" Diane was surprised at this.

"The people of that village were killed; I know it wasn't King who did it, but he took the blame because he blamed himself for all the suffering his fairy friend had to go through," said Meliodas remembering the day he met King, "I told him he was a splendid Fairy King." he said smiling.

"Yeah, but from remembering our time together as the Seven Deadly Sins, it seemed that he never broke his promise of always loving me." said Diane smiling.

"So I guess you love him as well?" Elizabeth asked from midair.

Diane nodded, "That's why I need to see him, so I can tell him how I still feel."

Elizabeth nodded in understanding and smiled at Meliodas, who gave one in return. "Hey Diane!" The giantess looked at her. "How did you meet Meliodas?"

Diane thought about it for a minute, "It was a long time ago back when I first left the Giant Clan. I was walking down the road when all of these knights surrounded me…"

_~Flashback~_

_Diane standing in the middle of the road with five knights blocking her way._

_"You're a monster and now you must pay!"_

_Diane scoffs, "Yeah right! Come on you're the ones who did something wrong drawing your swords at a cute girl!"_

_A knight points his sword at her, "We don't see any cute girls here you giant!"_

_"Go home! As if there is any difference between girls and boys with things like you!"_

_Diane is pissed. "Screw you. Pretty big mouths for a wimpy race that is only powerful in large numbers!"_

_"Alright we've heard enough! Kill her!"_

_The knights charge toward her, when out of nowhere Meliodas kicks one of the knights into a tree. The other knights are dumbfounded._

_"Where did this kid come from?"_

_"You attacked us knowing we're knights?"_

_Meliodas__ looks disappointed. "You guys should be ashamed of yourselves, a bunch of men ganging up on a girl like this." Diane is shocked._

_The knights regain their senses. "You bastard! Do you want those to be your last wor-"_

_~Flashback end~_

"Meliodas beat up all the knights, and asked me how I was. That was the first time anyone had ever asked me if I was scared. In the giant clan you were expected to be strong and not to be afraid of anything and when I was with King we were too safe to really need to be scared. I'll admit it caused me to have a crush on Meliodas until you gave me my memories back." Diane looked sheepish. "I'm sorry about my behavior Captain and to you too Elizabeth. I never would have acted that way if I had known about your relationship or if I had remembered King."

Meliodas just waved away the apology. "No problem Diane! You're actually the first person in 3,000 years I told about me and Elizabeth."

Elizabeth nodded, "Of course! No reason to apologize! I completely understand. I'm just glad to know Meliodas is still a gentleman after so long without me to remind him how to act." She looked at him with a smirk. He put on a fake offended look which caused both girls to laugh.

"Me! Whenever have I not been a gentleman?" Elizabeth raised her brow.

"Do you actually want me to answer that in front of Diane." Meliodas thought about it then shook his head no. "Didn't think so!"

Diane started pouting until Elizabeth winked at her, which caused a new round of giggles from the girls.

When they reached Damally, the village on the other side of Baste prison, Hawk's mom dug into the ground outside of the village.

"Alright time to rescue Ban!" said Meliodas as he got pumped to see his best friend, "But let's make this trip quick." He closed his eyes and when he opened them they were dark with his Demon symbol on his head. Then two dark wings came out of his back made from his power.

"So you really are a demon." said Diane in awe.

"You got a problem with that?" Meliodas was now flying into the air.

"Nope!" Diane shakes her head. "You have been my Captain this long and you haven't steered me wrong yet."

Elizabeth smiled at her brightly. "You wouldn't be the first giant to work with a demon." she said flying next to Meliodas.

Diane looks shocked. "Really who else has?"

"We'll tell you the story some other time. I think King should hear it as well."

"Wait! What about me?" said Hawk who was on the ground.

"Just try to keep up!" said Meliodas as he flew towards the direction of Baste prison, with Elizabeth beside him as Diane ran behind.

Elizabeth grabbed his hand. "It's been so long since we've flown together hasn't it Meliodas."

He squeezed her hand, "Yes it has. I think the last time we were both flying was right before we were cursed. We'll have to do it again soon." They share a smile and Elizabeth kisses him on the cheek.

~Baste Prison~

Jericho is delivering a message to the Holy Knights stationed at the prison (who were playing chess) Golgious, Ruin, Jude, and Fresia.

"I have news from the palace. Two Sins have been sighted in the Forest of White Dreams. As such it is believed they will come here to free **him**."

"Oh my! The Seven Deadly Sins are finally coming this way are they?" says the high pitched and nasal voice of Fresia.

"The question is will they come straight here or stop at the nearby town? Either way we should prepare to welcome them." Golgious made a move on the board as he spoke.

Fresia pouted at Golgious. "Oh phooey! You make the ickiest moves Golgious!"

He laughed, "Your turn Fresia."

Jericho is confused and Fresia noticed. "There's no need to worry at all Jericho dear. This prison is an experimental fortress built specifically with this upcoming battle in mind. It's not a place that can be taken so easily. Even by people like the Seven Deadly Sins."

Ruin butted in, "Indeed and besides we, the Weird Fangs, are here.

"Ye-ye-yes of course Sir Ruin."

"But still...I have to wonder if they really will come." said Jude.

Fresia laughed, "Jude. I have a hard time believing our prisoner's worth so much to them that they'd take on such a huge risk. He hasn't even seen a single ray of sunlight since we captured him five years ago. Nor has he been granted the freedom to move or utter a word. In fact he's hardly even eaten. He's being tortured slowly till his last breath."

Golgious adds "Their newfound companion not withstanding, we outnumber them still. It's almost enough to make one feel pity for the legend who was once known as the Fox Sin of Greed."

~Ban's cell~

The two guards on duty outside of the Sin of Greed's silent cell start to hear something.

"Do you hear that?"

"Yeah it sounds like humming. Where's that coming from?"

Ban just keeps humming despite all the spikes imbedded in his body and the metal in his mouth.

~Forest Outside of Damally~

They were almost at Dalmally when a buzzing sound filled the air, Elizabeth stops. "What is all that buzzing?"

They looked towards the direction of Baste Prison to see what looked like a moving storm cloud, "Storm clouds, but it doesn't smell like rain." said Hawk.

"No it's something else." said Meliodas squinting.

Elizabeth then noticed what was in the 'cloud', "It can't be… insects?"

The insects in the cloud started spitting down at the village which caused parts of buildings to melt, "Even worse, it's a swarm of poisonous insects!" said Hawk having caught up.

Elizabeth is shocked and disgusted. "This must be the work of a Holy Knight from Baste Prison!"

"They must have found out we were coming." Meliodas says pointing out the obvious.

Hawk comes up to the giantess. "Hey Diane you wanna take this one?"

Diane crouches down and covers her head, "Uh bugs are the only things I can't stand!"

"Really?!"

~Baste Prison~

Fresia is twirling around a whip from one of the ledges around the prison. "Come on my darling scarab beetles! It's time to give them the taste of your poison. Dissolve anyone who gets in your way!"

~Forest Outside of Damally~

Elizabeth looks at the coming swarm and her hands start glowing with a bright light. Meliodas sees this and just watches his Goddess while smiling.

"Be gone foul insects and leave these people alone! Arc!" The light incases all the bugs and they disappear.

"Wow! So that's the power of a Goddess." said Diane.

Hawk is gushing, "You're so awesome Elizabeth!"

Meliodas grabs her hand. "That's my Goddess! Gorgeous and powerful." He gives her a chaste kiss. "Let's get going." The four of them started heading towards Baste Prison again.

~Baste Prison~

Fresia is frustrated, "I suppose I should have expected power like that from a Sin. Oh no matter! We have other plans."

~Damally~

When the four of them reached the village, a man with glasses was looking into the air and spotted them. "Hey wait!"

Elizabeth was the only one who heard him, "Meliodas wait!"

"What is it?"

Elizabeth pointed to the ground where the man was waving his arms. Meliodas and Elizabeth landed on the ground in front of him.

"Hey what's the matter?"

The man started speaking frantically. "Listen, the Holy Knights said you were badly injured and would require medical attention, so they wanted me to-" but he was interrupted when a metallic male voice spoke.

"Why is he still alive?"

Diane started looking around, "Where is that voice coming from?"

"Please! I'm sorry I couldn't fulfill my end of the bargain! But please! Oh please return my daughter to me!" begged the man.

"No need to shout Doctor. I shall reunite you with your daughter." said a man in armour who appeared behind him. He was then stabbed through with a sword.

"What! No!" said Elizabeth, shocked.

"He got him bad." said Hawk.

"I shall send her to join you in the afterlife!" The knight Golgious said removing the sword which caused the Doctor to fall to the ground. "Now now, we can't have you ruining the Holy Knights good name about how we wanted you to kill him."

"No!" Elizabeth rushed to his aid as the man in armour vanished.

"Elizabeth wait! It isn't safe here! We don't know when that guy is going to show up next!" said Meliodas as he down kneeled next to her.

"Yeah!" Hawk tried to get her away by pushing her gently on the arm.

"Just let me heal him." said Elizabeth as her glowing hands over the doctors wound started to heal him.

Meliodas looked at Diane. "Diane go on without us! We'll catch up in a minute!"

She nods. "On It Captain you guys be careful." She started running for the prison.

Meliodas was on the lookout for any danger to his Goddess and saw the man in armour appear behind Elizabeth. "Look out!" He took out his dragon blade and intercepted the blow and Golgious vanished again.

Hawk kept sniffing around. "Dammit, he's leaving behind a metallic scent trail, but I can't track it!"

"You can smell that!" Elizabeth says surprised, while still healing her patient.

"Yep I can smell slop from a mile away! Gross huh?"

"A metallic scent trail huh?" said Meliodas as he blocked the sword again, but this time Golgious saw Meliodas's face.

"So you're the Dragon Sin of Wrath? I'd thought you would be older."

"People keep saying that." He then grabbed Golgious by the arm and threw him onto the ground creating a small crater. "Now you're going to tell me who you are and what your orders are or am I going to have to beat you more."

"Of course," he lifted his arms slightly, "I, Golgious of the Weird Fangs, surrender." Meliodas caught the throwing stars midair on their way to Elizabeth and the doctor. "How did you see those!" Meliodas gave him a dark look. "I said how did you see-" he was then lifted into the air by Meliodas who had him by the neck.

"You just tried to hurt someone who means more to me than life itself. I should just end you here and now." He gives him the full demon stare. "But I promised to not kill unless necessary so instead I will give you two options. 1: Answer my questions and then you may go or 2: You apologize to Elizabeth, answer my questions, and then we may get you some medical help. Deal?"

Golgious was shaking and nodding frantically. Meliodas dropped him and crossed his arms. "So what's it going to be?"

Golgious got up slowly. "I choose... none of the above!" He then disappeared.

"Damnit!" The shadows spread across his arms until Elizabeth put her arms around his waist from behind and he calmed down. She then grabbed his hand and dragged him over to the doctor.

The doctor's eyes opened to Elizabeth kneeling over him, "Thank goodness are you alright."

The doctor sat up and looked to Elizabeth and Meliodas who's back to normal. "Please! I beg of you to save my daughter!"

Meliodas looked contemplative for a second, then smiled. "Of course! Could you answer one question for me before we go?" The doctor nodded. "Do you know what Golgious's power is?"

"I believe his power is invisibility… I'm not completely certain of it though."

Meliodas nodded. "That makes sense. There were gaps in time between his attacks and he left behind a scent trail. He must have been moving on foot like me. That means it shouldn't be hard to catch up to him. Let's go Elizabeth!"

"But what about Ban?" asked Elizabeth as he gave her a hand up.

Meliodas just shook his head as they started walking toward the prison. "Don't worry about that lazy slug! Once he finds out we're on our way, he will probably break himself out of prison." They both started running and then took off into the air.

~Baste Prison Ban's Cell~

"Hey wanna bet on who will win?"

"Hmm?"

"The Weird Fangs or the Seven Deadly Sins? They're fighting in town right now."

"That's not much of a bet. From what I heard the Sins are just down to their captain and one other member. They're no match for the Weird Fangs so..."

"Well that's awesome news!" The knights are shocked. "Sounds like it oughta be fun!" Then the outline of a foot was shown in the door and it came crashing down. It's Ban still impaled by spikes, rockin' a beard and long hair, and he stretched as he continued to remove the spikes.

"Ahhhh! It feels so good to walk around after all that time in a cell."

"It's the Seven Deadly Sins Ban! The Fox Sin!"

"Damn you! How did you get out of your restraints and why now!"

Ban just continued to remove spikes, "Isn't it obvious? I kicked the door down duh! And why wouldn't I get out when you're telling me great news. The fact that our Captain is alive means something interesting is going to happen."

A voice came from down the corridor.

"What's going on?!" It's Jericho acting aloof.

"Jericho!"

Ban finally noticed her and dismissed her as a threat.

She began talking. "Ban of the Seven Deadly Sins… I don't know how you escaped your cell, but return to it at once."

Ban just laughed. "How about some respect kid. I'm not sure how you were raised, but is that anyway to treat a hero. And anyway, do you think someone who literally just kicked their cell door down would just go back in without a fight?"

Jericho's offended. "I am an apprentice Holy Knight! You dare call me kid! That's pretty disrespectful for a prisoner who's at death's door." She addressed the knights, "Go to Sir Golgious and the others at once! Tell them all… Jericho had to take out the Fox Sin when he tried to escape."

"Yes Ma'am!"

As the knights left Jericho drew her sword and lunged at Ban. It looks like she finished him. Ban's groans of pain turned into smug laughter. He was cleanly shaven and had a shorter hair cut.

"Do you think I had you cut off too much? Well I like it better than before you did it… I'll work with it. You're a good barber kid you should make it your day job!"

Jericho was shocked. "How did you dodge my sword with all your wounds?!" She then looked at him again.

"What wounds are ya talking about?" Ban's looked around at his limbs showing off the lack of injuries.

"That's not possible! Just a moment ago there were holes in most of your body from the steel spikes that were driven through them!"

Ban's smug again. "There's something you need to remember kid… there's only one wound on me," he pointed at his neck "and it's this scar and you could say that one is a special case."

_~Flashback Ten Years Ago~_

_The Sins are bedded in for the night around a campfire._

_"Hey Cap'n, c'mon what's the big deal!" The Sin of Greed was staring intently at his Captain sitting across from him. Actually, his sight was more on the dragon hilt sheathed behind his back. "Just let me see you sword already!"_

_"What's so exciting about seeing this hunk of junk?" Ban smirked. So, he really was going to pretend he didn't know. Two can play at that game._

_"… Last I checked you were the Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins..." The Captain still ignored Ban. He took a long sip of ale as Ban continued talking. "Sooooo why the hell you walking around with a sword like that?" Ban starts walking toward him. "I mean did you really think I wouldn't be curious about it eventually? Hmmm."_

_The Sin of Greed got behind the Sin of Wrath, touched his shoulder, put a hand on the handle and gave Meliodas a small smile. "Let me see it." He slowly started to drag the sword from its sheath, missing how Meliodas' mug started to dip. Meliodas grabbed hold of the hilt._

_"Let go." Normally, Ban would listen to the Captain's command. But not this time. The Sin of Wrath's mug full of ale clattered to the ground. A rustling sound alerted Ban to a certain giantess' presence. The Sin of Envy sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Captain...? Ban...? You're still up...?" Her voice was heavy with sleep._

_"Just step away Ban," The Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins ordered a second time. "...Don't wanna make me angry."_

_The Sin of Greed chuckled to himself. "Make you angry? You, serious Cap'n? We've been hangin' around for many years... But I've never seen you get angry once..."_

_"I mean it Ban...Let go..." Meliodas ordered a third time._

_"That reminds me… I'm also interested in how you got to be called the Sin of Wrath…"_

_"BAN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THE CAPTAIN!?" Diane's question went ignored._

_"If you're saying you'll get angry... Then I want to see it that much more..." Ban grabbed hold of the hilt with both hands now, staring with hunger at the hilt. He'd finally get to see a pissed Captain. It was his dream come true._

_"...No, I WANT TO STEAL IT!"_

_A millisecond later Ban was flying backwards, a stinging sensation going through his neck. He slowed himself to a stop. He looked up just as Meliodas was sheathing his sword once more. "Heh... Whaddya know the Cap'n's secret rage...awesome!" Ban's singsong voice echoed through the clearing, not even holding a slight hint of pain._

_"Sorry about that Ban, but this sword is..." Meliodas decided it was best not to tell him why his sword was so important. He walked out of camp into the forest._

_~Flashback end~_

"Anyway enough about that, let's get to the point. I'm going to walk out of here and you're not going to stop me!"

Jericho drew her blade. "No you are not!"

One embarrassingly short scuffle later. Ban was holding up Jericho by the head with one hand and she was unarmed.

"Just finish me! Get this over with already!"

He brought her closer to his face. "You know what barber boy… I like your armor. I'll take it." _'I hope it's not too small.'_

~Between Baste Prison and Damally~

Elizabeth and Meliodas were flying toward the prison when Diane appeared in front of them.

"Whoa what's going on?! Diane!"

Elizabeth flew toward her face. "What are you doing over here? Weren't you going after Sir Ban?"

Diane stared blankly ahead. Then she blinked, "Hey weren't you helping out the Doctor?"

Meliodas and Elizabeth looked at each other in confusion. Then they heard the sound of a bell. Diane started raising her right fist.

Meliodas noticed the change first. "Look out!" He pushed Elizabeth out of the way.

"There's a Holy Knight here! Captain! You and Elizabeth go on I'll dea-! Hey wait where did they go?" She looked around, then back at Ruin. "What did you do to my friends!"

"They're all at my mercy."

She got ready to kick him. "Give them back right now!" She raised her fist and punched Meliodas who deflected it.

Elizabeth and Hawk head for him. "Meliodas! Are you alright?!"

He nodded to them and then looked at Diane. "She's gone berserk." Meliodas saw the blank look in her eyes. "Those eyes, she can't see us at all even if she wants to!"

The pieces clicked for Elizabeth. "She's under some kind of illusion?"

"So what do we do? She's a giant mountain of a woman who thinks we're the enemy!" said Hawk.

Meliodas grabbed Hawk and Elizabeth. "We get away from here!" They started flying away.

When they were flying through the forest they saw two people, a man and a boy. Elizabeth noticed the boy holding a staff with a bell on it.

Hawk was the first to say something. "Crap there are people around!"

"Hey! If you don't want to die you better start running." Meliodas yelled at the two of them.

The man and boy saw Diane chasing Meliodas, Elizabeth, and Hawk. They were spooked and started running.

They were all now hiding from Diane. "You can't hide forever Holy Knight! When I find you I'm going to twist you like a pretzel!"

Elizabeth turned to Meliodas. "Meliodas, I think you should go out there without your full power."

"Why?"

"I know you can control it, but if someone starts to control you while in that state you could seriously hurt someone and I know you. You would regret it forever if someone got hurt."

Meliodas thought about it, closed his eyes, and locked his demon symbol away for now and his eyes went back to their normal green. He then smirked, "Let me guess… while I fight Diane you're going to defeat the enchantment. Just don't give away all our secrets yet okay."

Elizabeth beams, "Of course! No one ever suspects me of anything." He kissed her on the nose and got out from their hiding spot. Then the sound of a bell rang through the trees.

"Hey where'd you come from?"

"I am the Holy Knight Ruin. Member of the Weird Fangs and destroyer of the Seven Deadly Sins."

"Hey tall and gruesome! You're the one who cast that weird spell on Diane, aren't you?"

Hawk looked between them, "Now he does know that's Diane right?"

After Diane punched the ground, Meliodas used the debris to get above the Holy Knight. "Now turn her back to normal!" he said hitting her fist which caused the ground to shake.

"I know this is hard to believe, but I think Meliodas is caught in the same illusion as Diane right now."

"I know."

Hawk is shocked. "What! Did you know this would happen?!"

Elizabeth nodded. "We both suspected it would, but while he causes a distraction I'm going to find the source of the enchantment and break it."

"Ohhhh."

Meliodas and Diane were still fighting hard. Kicks and punches flying everywhere.

Elizabeth started getting worried. _'I know this was part of the plan, but they might kill each other!'_ She jumps out from behind her cover. "Both of you stop this! That's enough!" They seemed to snap out of it.

Diane was confused. "Elizabeth you're here? And Captain you're here too? Where'd the Holy Knight go?" Meliodas looked around as well.

"Huh? No clue."

The little boy came over, "Are you alright big lady?"

"Yeah. Are you okay you're still here?"

Elizabeth stiffened, _'That's it!'_ Then she heard the sound of a bell and Meliodas and Diane start up again. _'Oh no! Not again! I have to get to that bell, but how?'_

The boy started crying. "I don't wanna die please!"

_'That's it!'_ "I'll protect you even if it means trading my life for yours!"_ 'Forgive me Meliodas… you're not going to like this plan. I know it.'_

Fresia showed up behind her. "Oh how touching to see a princess who actually cares, but is that truly what you would do or an empty promise?" She starts to raise her whip, _'Wait are those wings coming out of her back?! What could have happened to the princess since she left the capital?... Oh no matter! On with the show.'_

She called forth a tornado of poisonous insects and Hawk for one doesn't like it. "I can't believe another Holy Knight! What is with these guys!"

"Now go my little beetles and destroy them all!" The boy ran away in fear. "That kids whining is really annoying! You die first!" She surrounded him with beetles, and he cried out in pain.

_'No! I need his staff! I don't want to give away the extent of my powers yet… I'll have to go in without them… This is going to hurt… dang.'_

Fresia started bragging. "Let me see… 'even if I have to trade my life for yours' was that the phrase? For all your brave platitudes, you never believed you would have to follow through with it did you?"

"Oh that bitch! Hey Elizabeth where are you going?"

Elizabeth started walking through the cloud. _'Ow! Ouch! I made a promise to Meliodas that we would stay by each other's side and that I would break this enchantment. I will keep those promises regardless of the pain!'_ She made it to the boy.

"Elizabeth no!" Hawk yelled in a panic. Fresia dispersed the cloud with a crack of her whip. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Are you okay?" _'I have to get that bell.'_

"So you would risk your life to save a young boy? That's quite admirable. However…" He dropped the illusion. "That is not the reality of the situation."

Hawk started rubbing his eyes, "Another illusion?"

_'Okay Elizabeth act gullible and then try to go after the bell!'_ "You're the one behind all this…"

Ruin laughed. "Oh the great and powerful Seven Deadly Sins are nothing more than my puppets."

"Turn them back to normal!"

Ruin grabbed Elizabeth by the hair, kneed her in the stomach then threw her to the ground. Hawk tries to come to her rescue, "You bastard!" And he gets kicked away.

Ruin laughed again, "As we speak the two Sins are engaged in battle! They will both kill each other for us!"

Elizabeth stood up, "Release them from this spell now!" Ruin raised his staff. _'This is gonna hurt, but I can finally grab that bell!'_ He hits her in the face with his staff and sent her sprawling across the ground.

"Elizabeth!"

Fresia strolled up a little hesitant. "Uh… Ruin aren't we supposed to deliver the princess unharmed?" Ruin came to his senses and walked up to the injured Goddess.

"Of course. Princess Elizabeth, out of respect for your actions here, I will tell you the secret to my illusions. It's this bell on my staf- Wait a minute where is it?!" Elizabeth smugly spit out the bell. "You little bitch! I'll kill you!"

He raised his fist about to hit Elizabeth when his arm was stopped. Ruin looked over to see it was Meliodas. He was pissed! Even his mark was exposed. He was crushing the armor with his hand and moved Ruin's hand away with ease.

"Not a chance in hell are you going to hurt Elizabeth!" _'He thinks he can hurt **my** Goddess!'_ He punched Ruin away from them; it sent him flying fast towards Baste Prison. He kneeled by his Goddess, hid the mark, and then pulled her into his arms. "Elizabeth my love, what were you thinking! I said to keep some of our secrets not let yourself get hurt!"

She pulled away from him. "I knew I could handle it. Besides I knew you would save me once I broke the spell." He looked at her with fond exasperation and pulled her in for a kiss that was quickly reciprocated. "Now go after Ruin. He should be recovering from hitting the prison any second now."

"Yes, my love." He kissed her forehead, got her up off the ground, and went rushing after Ruin.

Elizabeth smiled after him fondly. _'He's so protective… it's sweet.'_ She looked over and saw Diane crush Fresia in her hand. _'Ouch!'_

~Meanwhile In Baste Prison~

Ban was walking down a hall of cells. Guards were running around, yelling at each other.

"What's with all the racket around here lately? It's like someone broke outta prison or something."

A Holy Knight rose out of the shadows on the floor in front of Ban.

"Where do you think you're going, Ban of the Seven Deadly Sins?"

"Hey, what's up Holy Knight Jude." Ban said, seemingly completely unconcerned.

Jude stalked slowly towards Ban, his armour clanking. "I've come to destroy you. Prepare to take your last breath."

"So you wanna off me, huh? After all this time?" Ban jokes, as he stood his ground, his posture slouched, and his hands tucked into his pockets.

"You have no further use to us. You've adequately served your purpose as the bait to lure the Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins here. Even at this very moment, two of the Seven Deadly Sin members, Dragon Sin Meliodas, and Serpent Sin Diane, are being eliminated at the hands of the Weird Fangs. And when I'm finished with you, that will bring the total to four Sins who no longer exist to wreak havoc upon this world."

Ban laughed, "Well I'm all for your dream coming true, man."

"Who was it that captured you five years ago, and has been torturing you ever since? Surely you haven't forgotten?"

"Okay, have a nice life." Ban said, as he started to walk past Jude.

A spear was plunged into his chest.

Ban looked at Jude, his eyes wide as he stumbled back to lean against the wall. Then he smiled.

"Are you really that sad to see me go?" Bad asked Holy Knight Jude, nonchalant despite the spear still stuck in his chest.

"It appears you haven't learned anything in your five years here, Seven Deadly Sins' Fox Sin." Jude said menacingly. "No matter how strong you think you are, you are completely powerless against Jude."

Jude pushed the spear even further through Ban's chest. Ban grunted and slumped against the wall of the prison.

"Would you like to know how it is you people were able to catch me five years ago?" Ban said, his posture nonchalant, though pain was evident in his voice. "Way back in those days, I was in the market for some pain. I wanted to wallow in suffering because I thought that might have made me feel I was alive."

He reached up to grasp the spear that was sticking out of his chest. "But, I'm over that now. Your pain has become boring."

Jude stepped back in fear.

"If the Captain's alive that means all sorts of fun things are about to start happening. So there's no reason for me to continue hanging out in this boring dump of yours." Ban stepped closer to Jude holding the spearpoint to his armored chest.

"Wait, are you...going to try to overthrow the kingdom like you did ten years ago?"

"Overthrow the kingdom...I remember something about that."

"Try it again, I dare you." Jude said, though his voice shook with fear. "Every Holy Knight in the land would leap at the opportunity to engage in an all out war against you Sins!"

Ban pushed the spear through his chest and blood spurted from Jude's mouth.

"Sounds pretty nice." Ban laughed. "Now if you'll excuse me. I'm late for a meeting with my Cap'n. So stick around." He leaves Jude stuck to the wall and walks away.

~Baste Prison Outer Walls~

The knights on duty were at their posts when a man's body came flying through the air and hit the prison.

"What was that?"

"I think that was a man flying in!"

Ruin slowly pulled himself out of the wall. _'What the hell was that! He threw me all the way here with one punch!'_

Meliodas appears in front of him. He then punches him in the chin and sends him back into the wall to the shock of the knights around him.

Ruin is gleeful "Alright! This is more like it! Wouldn't you agree, Dragon Sin Meliodas!"

The knights start backing away. "Wait! Is that guy the Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins?"

Ruin starts taunting Meliodas. "Is that all you got kid! My armour is just a thin shell. My flesh is many times harder than stee- Ack!"

Meliodas punched Ruin's armour shattering it and his skin causing Ruin to bleed. The knights are shocked.

"I had no choice, because you tried to hurt someone who means everything to me. More than life itself." said Meliodas moving back his fist which caused the man to fall down forward, "And that... well that sin was yours."

"A Holy Knight! With one blow!"

"He must be one of the Seven Deadly Sins!"

"Run away!"

The Knights outside the prison started running away.

"Meliodas!" came a voice from above. He looked up to see it was Elizabeth still covered in scratches, with Diane and Hawk not far behind her.

"I'm so glad you're alright!" said Elizabeth while hugging him. Meliodas smiled and when he pulled back he notices her injuries.

"Elizabeth! Are you alright? You're still covered in scratches! Why haven't you healed yourself yet?" Meliodas was holding her shoulders gingerly.

Elizabeth blushed at the scrutiny. "I wanted to make sure you were alright first."

Meliodas shook his head."I love you, Elizabeth. I love you more than you could ever know. I just worry you won't take care of yourself if you think I'm hurt."

Elizabeth reached up and rested her hand against his cheek. "I know. But I'm always going to be worried about you. Even if I know better." She said smiling.

And she kissed him. A truly magical kiss, both figuratively and literally. As the two poured all their love and emotion into each other, Elizabeth began to glow as her healing powers started to subconsciously heal both of their injuries.

Diane was awed, "Whoa cool."

Hawk was indignant, "Hey you two! That's enough of that!"

The two broke apart still smiling at each other. Meliodas looked over at Diane.

"Hey Diane, What's that you got in your hand?"

Diane dropped it next to the knight Meliodas beat, it was Fresia all beat up and looking like a crushed bug.

"She was the one who sent those bugs earlier."

_'She's the one who caused those scratches on Elizabeth.'_ "Did you get any information out of her?"

Hawk laughed. "She squealed like a pig. She told us they were keeping the Doctor's daughter in smaller tower, right before Diane squished her."

Meliodas gave Hawk a look, shook his head then led the way into the tower.

The four of them went up the steps that led to a big enough entrance that even Diane could go through.

Speaking of the giantess, "This place is weird. Not only is there an entrance big enough for me, but this place is deserted."

Meliodas agreed. "They probably built the entrance on the off chance they could capture you." He shrugged. "Also the knights probably ran away after Ruin was face planted into the wall."

~Outside Baste Prison~

"They've gone inside." Jericho observed. "What do we do now? Sir Golgious."

It's Golgious all dented up and limping a little bit. "I must admit I'm rather impressed. But the great strength that they've shown will soon come to an end, with an agonizing death!" He held up a black spell bead and threw it down. "It's a magic quarantine barrier. An indestructible eternal sealing spell, so powerful it could withstand ten tyrant dragons and not break. The Sins will die in there one by one."

~Inside Baste Prison~

Walking further into the prison they noticed most of the cells were empty. Elizabeth grabbed Meliodas's hand for comfort from the creepy atmosphere. He squeezed her hand and pulled her closer.

When they were about to pass a hallway of more cells, Hawk smelled something coming from a hall to their left.

"Hey guys!" They looked at him. "I smell something coming from the end of the hall."

Hawk and Meliodas reached a cell, there was a woman in common clothes asleep.

"This is her. The doctor's daughter, I'm sure of it!" said Hawk.

Meliodas looked around for a key. "Well! We better get her out. I can't see any key… oh well." He grabbed the bars with both hands and took the door right out of the wall.

The woman woke up to the door being removed. _'What's going on?'_ She screamed when she saw Diane and fainted.

Meliodas looked at the fainted woman and shrugged. "Hey Diane, think you could carry her in your bag for now?"

Diane shrugged. "Sure!" She pulls it off her shoulders and puts the Doctor's daughter in it gently.

Elizabeth clapped her hands together, "Now we're off to help Sir Ban!"

"What's with this 'Sir Ban' business?"

The group turned as one to the source of the voice. There in the shadows was the sound of footsteps. They revealed a man, wearing red pants, a scar going up the right side of his neck, spiked up white hair, and a tattoo of a fox on his hip. A tension started building when he and Meliodas locked eyes.

"Ban."

"Hey Captain." said Ban. The two of them just stared at each other seriously. Meliodas gestured for Elizabeth to step back, but she just looked on in concern.

Hawk was glancing between the two of them worriedly. "They both seem upset. Is there something wrong? I got a bad feeling." Diane just sat back.

"You two might want to hide behind me. It'll be safer there."

Hawk and Elizabeth just hope she's joking.

Ban and Meliodas continued to stare at each other, then Meliodas grinned.

"Ban!" Meliodas cheered happily raising his hands in the air.

"Captain!" said Ban gushingly.

The two of them ran to each other hitting each other's hands, laughing all the while.

Elizabeth started smiling, while Hawk was still confused. "What are they doing? It's like a game of paddy cake gone terribly wrong!"

The Goddess just shook her head fondly. "This is the way friends like these greet each other after so long apart. They'll be fine!"

Diane nodded her head.

The boys were still at it. "Captain!" said Ban as he hit Meliodas and sent him flying through some of the walls to the left. Meliodas got back up unscathed to the sight of Ban who was waving his hands in the air, "My turn, me next, haha!"

Meliodas jumped towards him, head butting him and sending him through multiple walls.

Hawk was still confused. "Do I wanna know?"

Diane was exasperated, "Just go along with it."

Elizabeth was just thinking about how sweet it is. _'I'm glad he made such a good friend.'_

The two men started laughing, "So great Cap'n, I thought you might have gotten soft on me!" Ban got out of the walls unscathed.

Meliodas was beaming, "You still got it!" The two of them grabbed each other's hand and got on the ground to arm wrestle.

Ban smiled a vulpine grin, "Ready!"

Meliodas was still beaming, "Go!"

The two of them started and Meliodas beat Ban easily, which confused Ban. "Okay, let's even the playing field." He used Hunter Fest to take some power and they started again, which caused the whole prison to shake and start crumbling.

Elizabeth and Diane kept watching, while Hawk started freaking out.

"Don't worry! Those two have been like this for as long as I've known them."

"Wait! They've been like what!" said Hawk who was in Diane's hands and looking around at the prison falling apart.

Diane waved off his fear, "Oh just typical boys so immature!"

The two of them were continuing to arm wrestle as Ban called out previous stats "720 times, if I recall correctly and I do, I beat you 361 of them!"

Meliodas scoffed, "You must have lost your mind, I won 361 times!"

The ground beneath them broke, but the two of them continued to yell as they fell. Elizabeth took to the air, while Diane and Hawk fell as well.

_'Meliodas! You just had to over do it again didn't you? What am I going to do with you!'_ Elizabeth stopped and smirked evilly. _'I know just the thing!'_

~Outside~

The prison started cracking and falling apart rapidly. The spell couldn't take the pressure and broke down.

"Whoa!"

"What are they!"

"That's impossible!"

Jericho was shocked. "The Sins! Just how much power do they really have?!"

Golgious left Jericho. "Strategic withdraw!" He disappeared.

"Wait for me!"

~Rubble Pile~

The boys dug themselves out and Diane shook off the dust.

Ban started pouting, "Damn, we never found out who won!"

"Oh well!" Meliodas shrugged it off and looked for Elizabeth. She lands next to Diane.

"Are you alright Lady Diane?" She got a look in response. "I mean Diane. Sorry."

"I'm fine Elizabeth."

"That's good! Where's Hawk?"

"Oh I put him in my bag as we were falling."

"Good."

Meliodas clapped his hands. "Come on we better bring the Doctor's daughter back!"

They start heading for the village, when Ban notices Elizabeth's wings.

"Hey, are those Goddess wings?"

Elizabeth nodded, "Why yes they are."

"We'll explain it later I promise." Meliodas interjected.

~Damally~

They returned to the village, where the Doctor's daughter was reunited with her father.

Meliodas and Hawk watched the reunion.

"Well we better get going! We have no idea when those knights might come back or how many Holy Knights may come here once they hear the news." As they turned to leave the Doctor yelled after them.

"Wait Meliodas! Let me make you and your comrades a meal as a thank you for everything you've done for us. Please I insist!"

~Roof of the Doctors' House~

The Sins gathered around waiting for the Doctor and his family to bring the meal up to the roof. Diane stood next to the building, leaning over the roof. Ban was now wearing a studded red leather jacket and matching pants. Elizabeth and Meliodas sat by each other holding hands.

"Alright Elizabeth! It's time you were formally introduced. This is Ban the Fox Sin of Greed!"

"Nice to meet you Sir Ban!" Meliodas gave her a fond smile. "I did it again didn't I?" She facepalmed at his nod. "I'm sorry Ban."

He waved off her apology, "Don't worry about it! We're not big on ceremony." He bowed. "Let's just be friends okay!" She nodded in agreement and giggled at his bow. Then Meliodas noticed his outfit.

"Hey Ban, where did you get that outfit or the money to buy it?"

Ban tried to sound innocent, "I kind of came across it. It was a total fluke!" He tries to hide the fact that he stole it. Diane sighed knowing he stole it. "So yeah, it's been a long time since I've seen you Diane." She scoffed.

"I could've been perfectly content not seeing you for another 100 years."

"Now for a very important introduction!" Meliodas turned to his lover. "This is the Goddess Elizabeth, but in this life she is known as Princess Elizabeth, youngest princess in the royal family of Liones."

Elizabeth blushed at the introduction, but curtsies to Ban. "It's nice to meet you Ban."

"You as well- Wait! In this life… what does that mean?"

The couple looked at each other and Elizabeth started, "Well it starts 3,000 years ago when Meliodas and I were cursed-"

"Wait! Cursed for what?"

"I betrayed my people by falling in love with Meliodas and Meliodas betrayed his people by falling in love with me in return."

"Whoa hold on! If you're a Goddess... then what are you Captain?" Ban looked suspicious. Meliodas let out his demon mark and his eyes changed color. "Cap'n you're a demon!"

Meliodas released the transformation. "Yes I am, but I left that life behind when I met Elizabeth."

"Yes! He's not like the others, he was named a traitor by the Demon King himself!" Elizabeth came to stand in front of Meliodas. Ban waved them on to continue their story.

After Meliodas and Elizabeth explained their curse, Ban felt bad for getting suspicious at his best friend, "Sorry Cap'n. You've never did anything that would make me see you as a bad guy and I jumped to conclusions."

Meliodas waved it off and took Elizabeth's hand. Ban looked on with a little jealousy, but mostly just happy for his Captain. 'This explains all those times he ignored girls flirting with him.'

Diane looked at Ban for a moment. "So… I've got to ask. What's your problem with demons? It seems personal…"

Meliodas and Elizabeth looked at him. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to Ban."

He shook his head. "No I should tell you." He cleared his throat. "One day twenty years or so ago I was in the Fairy Kings forest looking for the Fountain of Youth. When I got to the top of the tree the holy woman guarding the fountain literally blew me off the tree." His audience gasped. "I wasn't immortal, but apparently the forest kept saving me, because I kept going up there and being blown back down. Until I finally made it up there and grabbed the fountain using Snatch. Well the woman strung me up using vines before I could drink it. She told me that if I drank it the forest would die, so I gave up. She told me her name was Elaine." He sighed dreamily here. "We spent a lot of time together and we fell in love."

Elizabeth gushed. "Awww that's so sweet!" Meliodas realized there's more and he's not going to like it.

Ban continued, "Then one day, a red demon showed up. It started burning down the forest. I tried to kill it by ripping its heart out, but when Elaine tried to warn me that it had more than one, we were both wounded." Diane was shocked and Elizabeth was crying into Meliodas's shoulder. "Elaine had grabbed the cup from the Fountain of Youth and told me to drink it, but I refused. I made her drink it. She did and I thought she was safe, when all of a sudden I was being force fed the water from the fountain." He chokes up a little and cleared his throat. "She died in my arms. I killed the demon and swore to Elaine I would bring her back."

Everyone was silent for a moment. Ban then looked at Elizabeth. "Is there any way you could bring her back?" She looked shocked, then contemplative.

"I think I can, but!" She yelled when he gets excited. "I can't quite remember how to do that. Just give me a little time and I'll figure it out! Okay? It's been 3,000 years since I've even tried doing something like that."

Ban nodded frantically. "So guess it's up to the four of us to find the others."

"You mean the five of us right."

Ban's confused. "Uh captain, you need glasses? There are only four of us." Elizabeth started giggling.

"There are five of us here stupid!"

"Huh, who said that?" Ban finally looked down.

"I did!" said the smug swine.

Ban looked calm, then surprised and started backing up frantically, "There's a talking pig here!"

The pig was pissed. "You're just noticing that!"

"No way! That's it! I can handle curses and demons, but a pig talking like a person is just too much more than I can handle man! Wait a second! You're King right! Of course, you were cursed and became an actual pig!" Ban remembered King was a fat guy.

Diane did not appreciate the comparison. "Hey don't talk about King like that!"

Meliodas continued on. "I heard King's dead. According to rumour at least."

Ban's confused.

Hawk defended his honor. "I warn you now, I'm no ordinary pig! I'm Sir Hawk! Captain of the Order of Scraps Disposal!"

Ban played along. "Wow! I've never heard of that order!" He winked at Meliodas.

The Doctor laughed. "You done with the introductions? Come dinner is ready."

Meliodas started running to the table. "I'm in!" Ban came up behind him.

"Hey! Don't start without us Cap'n!"

The doctor's daughter brought over a big plate, to where Diane and Elizabeth were, "Does it bother you standing by yourself."

Diane shook her head while grabbing her kabob. "No, I'm just happy to be able to eat with everybody for a change." she smiled.

Elizabeth smiled as she looked around. Meliodas and Ban drank together at the table laughing. She sighed, "I wish it could always be like this. This is such a perfect moment, but I know it can't be. We still have work to do."

Diane tapped Elizabeth's head with her index finger. "Don't worry about it! We'll find the others, save Liones, and have more moments like these!"

Elizabeth beamed. "You're right!"

Later on everyone had fun. Meliodas fed Elizabeth grapes, she fed him some too, they kissed and everybody talked.

Ban even tried riding on Hawk, while Hawk tried to get rid of him.

The doctor's daughter then looked into the sky, "Father look at the sky!"

The Doctor looked up, "Amazing!" Meliodas, Elizabeth, Hawk, Ban and Diane looked at the sky as well to see shooting stars going into the shape of a cross. "It's like the passage from one of Britannia's old legends. When shooting stars shine in the sky in the shape of a cross, it will mean a great trial is about to commence, between the light and the darkness."

Meliodas and Elizabeth looked at each other. _'This must be the reason why our curse was broken.'_

~Later that night~

Diane had fallen asleep with her head resting on the building. Ban and Hawk fell asleep on the roof. Meliodas and Elizabeth were still on the chair where they fed each other grapes. Elizabeth had fallen asleep with her head resting on Meliodas shoulder and he had an arm wrapped around her as he fell asleep with one last thought. _'I will protect you, even if it kills me.'_

~Meanwhile~

Gilthunder was talking to a boy in a rundown old house.

"Meliodas, Diane, and Ban have come together."

The boy floated in front of a window. "Hmmm. I wonder why they finally decided to take action?"

Gilthunder seemed skeptical, "Be careful not to betray the trust I have for you, King."

The Grizzly Sin of Sloth looked at him, then back out the window. _'At least I'll get to see the Captain and Diane again, before I kill Ban.'_

* * *

**A/N: I've been suffering from Seven Deadly Sins writers block. The few things I come up with lately have either nothing to do with this story/fandom or I'm just not sure where they could go in this story. In other words this story will be on a small haitus. It's just until I get back into Seven Deadly Sins. Give me until September and I'll probably have a few new chapters. One more thing! I'll probably be editing my story a little. (Mostly grammar and verb tenses)**


	6. Love Can Conquer Death

**Author Note: This chapter got completed on time thanks to my friend M Investor. To thank them I let them write some steamier scenes in this chapter, if you don't like those kind of scenes feel free to skip over them. We both understand that not everyone like reading those. They're marked off by a line break.**

* * *

Chapter 5 aka Love Can Conquer Death

~Boar Hat~

Elizabeth opens her eyes to see Meliodas smiling above her lovingly. She always loved seeing him first thing in the morning. He always seems to glow and his eyes look like they were made of emeralds.

"Good morning Elizabeth, how are you feeling this morning?"

She smiles back at him. "I was doing okay, but then I realized something…"

Meliodas looks concerned. "What? What's wrong?"

She locks her hand in his hair and pulls his lips down to hers and kisses him. "I hadn't gotten a kiss yet."

He smiles at her teasing, "Well, we can't have that now can we." Then he wraps his arms around Elizabeth and draws her closer to brush his forehead over hers. His breath ghosts over her lips as he could hear her pulse racing.

He presses against her lips for a kiss as she slowly moves against him. He presses more into those sweet peach-fine lips until Elizabeth fully pushes him back with her hands in his hair. Meliodas' lips were on hers again as he began sitting up. He lifts Elizabeth onto his lap as his lips cover the tip of her ear.

"I love you my Goddess." He whispers to Elizabeth. As his hands trace her sides, from her back to her neck, as he slowly presses kisses on all the skin he could find.

"I..." Elizabeth sighs against him as he slowly bites her neck. He even gets bold and reaches under her nightgown to trace the outline of her underwear.

"Meliodas..." Elizabeth feels every single place he carefully touches her, they burn hotly and ache more.

"You know…" She kisses his neck. "We haven't gotten the chance-" she gasps as he grabs her bare breasts. "To be intimate since our curse has been broken."

"No I" kiss "guess we" kiss "haven't." Meliodas wraps his arms around her and the two of them start kissing again. But just as Meliodas was about to remove her nightgown Hawk yells from downstairs.

"Get outta bed you lazy butts! Come and get your breakfast!"

Meliodas looks annoyed, "I'm going to make that pig into breakfast."

Elizabeth laughs at his expression, but leans into his ear to whisper, "Don't worry, there will be time for this later." She gives him one more kiss and gets off of his lap. "Besides, Hawk would taste horrible as breakfast." She smiles at him coyly. "Especially with your cooking!"

Meliodas looks mock offended. "Did you just go there?! I will not stand for it! I must defend my honor! Come here!" He makes a grab for her and Elizabeth starts running and laughing around the room until she hides in the bathroom and locks the door.

Meliodas knocks on the door. "Surrender quietly or I will come in there and we will sort this out in a very loud manner."

Elizabeth thinks about it for a minute. "Make me!"

Meliodas was shocked and then gets a lustful smile on his face. "Alright don't say I didn't warn you." He then summons his power to pick the lock on the door. He opens the door to find...

Elizabeth, naked in the shower, waiting with a smirk on her lips. Meliodas swallows hard at the sight of his lover naked and wet, "I thought you said there would be time for this later? Not that I'm complaining!"

"Well it is later compared to when I said that… so are you going to join me or am I taking a shower by myself?" She still smirks.

'Oh she does not play fair!' He jumps in, stripping his sleep pants off in seconds and pulls her closer to him as their bodies push against each other.

* * *

"Elizabeth." Meliodas tucks her wet silver hair behind her ear as they make eye contact. Suddenly his lips were hovering over hers teasing her with their proximity. She grabs the back of his head and pulls him to her. They kiss as their naked wet bodies pressed together. She hears him growl as she feels his erection pressing against her stomach. She tries to suppress a moan, until she feels his tongue slide into her mouth as his hands begin to move towards her breasts.

"Ugn." Elizabeth could feel Meliodas bite her lower lip as he began pinching her nipples and cupping her breasts. The world around her fades away as he begins moving his hips as she continues to gasp and moan. Suddenly he turns her around and begins toying with her clit and breast at the same time as he licks her neck.

"Delicious as always."

She tries to pull away until he embraces her. His lips meet with her neck as he sucks at it.

"Nn, Meliodas, you'll leave a mark."

"That's fine, isn't it? Leaving a mark to show you're mine." He turns her around again and sucks at her erect nipples, biting them and swirling his tongue around and around.

"M-Mel-Meliodas." She could hardly breathe as his fingers began to massage her folds, slowly entering her as she bites her lip to keep the screams to a minimum.

"You're so wet Elizabeth." She moves back as he pushes her against the wall and enters her. Their chests press together as he moans and twitches inside her.

He starts at a slow pace. He took his time as if they were the only ones who existed, she hears him hiss as he mutters to himself, her breasts push up against his chest, as her nipples rub against it. The sensation of him inside her and her sensitive nipples being teased was too much.

"Meliodas, I'm going to cum." She breathes heavily as he begins to speed up.

"Me too Elizabeth." He holds her breasts and pinches her nipples as she tries to gain some form of composure, but winds up losing herself completely in the heat of the moment. It doesn't take long for them to climax, he came inside and she wasn't able to stand. They just stay under the spray coming back down from their high, holding on to each other.

* * *

"That was fun."

"I agree with you my Goddess."

"I love you Meliodas."

"I love you too Elizabeth."

They kiss and help each other wash off and got out of the shower. Just in time for someone to pound on their door.

"Hey lovebirds! Are you going to come down today! The master is getting testy!"

"We'll be right there Ban!" Meliodas looks at Elizabeth. "We better get dressed."

The two get dressed and go downstairs. Ban was the first one to notice their arrival. "There you guys are! We were wondering what was-" He gets closer. "Princess, what's that on your neck?" He looks a bit smug as Elizabeth blushes.

"Oh this, well um I uh-"

"Is that a hickey?" His fingers graze over the area as she backs away, and suddenly he starts laughing. "Cap'n just couldn't keep to himself this morning could he?" He walked off still laughing.

"Little early to be doing that isn't it?" said Diane who was at the window and sounded smug.

Meliodas grabs Elizabeth around the waist and sits her on his lap. "It's been a very long time since we've been intimate, cut us some slack." He turns to Ban. "And for being the first to bother us, I'm ordering you as your Captain to cook breakfast."

Ban sighs dramatically and gets up heading for the kitchen. "Fine. It beats your cooking anyway."

Elizabeth starts giggling. "The only way Meliodas could cook was meat over a fire. He would burn or ruin anything else." Meliodas, once again, looks mock offended.

"How dare you! At least I could cook that much. You could burn water." He gets a mischievous glint in his eye. "Remember that time when you were a little girl and you tried baking for the first time. You gave me a cookie to try and I couldn't figure out what it was." He laughs as she covers her blushing face.

"I know. I know. I felt so horrible later on for making you eat that." He takes her hands in his.

"Let's just agree to not cook unless desperate. Okay?" She nods. "Good. Now, you're in for a treat. Ban here is an excellent cook. One of the best I've ever had."

Ban walks over just in time to hear that last statement. "You mean recently?"

"Nope I mean in all my 3,000 years." Ban gets a little sheepish.

"You don't mean that. You're just delusional from all that time eating your own food."

Meliodas gives him a deadpan look as Elizabeth tries the food.

She grabs Ban's attention. "Meliodas may not be able to cook, and maybe he is delusional sometimes."

"Hey!"

"But I think your food is wonderful and I have been exposed to some of the finest cooks in this land and many others. So you need to accept that you are really good."

Ban blushes a little. "Thank you Princess."

Meliodas gives her a kiss and they settle down to eat.

~After food and cleanup~

Meliodas puts down a map of the area they were in on a table outside. "Alright, now we're off to the Necropolis to find King."

"Hang on! Didn't you say fatty was six feet under?" Ban interjects.

Diane gets defensive. "Don't say that about King! I bet when we find him, you won't even recognize him!" Elizabeth turns to Meliodas.

"It's been a while since I've heard of the Necropolis. Isn't it called the land of the dead?" Meliodas nods.

Hawk starts shaking in fear. "The land of the dead, I don't know about you, but that sounds creepy." Diane shivers.

"There won't be any bugs right."

~Muertos Village~

They reach the seemingly deserted village. Hawks mom digs into the ground until only the Boar Hat was still above the ground.

Meliodas looks around. _'I feel like we're being watched, but I can't tell from where. No need to worry the others just yet.'_ "Okay everyone time to get some business going. We're all getting to work."

Ban looks surprised. "Well what do you know? The Cap'n really does sell the drinks."

"Get some food ready jailbird cook." Meliodas points at the confused immortal.

"Who me?"

Meliodas then points a finger at Diane, "Start getting some people billboard girl."

"Really me!" Elizabeth walks up.

"Please Meliodas; I would like a job as well."

"But of course. You're going to clean up the tables before we open." Meliodas smiles at her, "So Ban what are you going to-" he looks at where Ban was standing, but he was gone. Hawk scoffs.

"Man what a jerk."

Meliodas just looks annoyed. "He just took off."

Diane is outside the Boar Hat shouting to the village trying to get customers. After a while of no results she gave up, "Awwwww! I couldn't get a single person to come."

Meliodas, Elizabeth and Hawk are inside the boar hat. Meliodas cleaning mugs, while Elizabeth wipes the counter. She stops to look at Meliodas.

"Meliodas I was wondering, I know that King is the new Fairy King, but what kind of a person is he?"

Meliodas puts down the mug he was cleaning and looks up, "I think Gloxinia would like him. He's loyal, caring, and dedicated to doing the best for those he cares about." He shakes his head. "He does have a very cautious personality though."

"What do you mean?"

Meliodas hesitates. "King has a tendency to trust slowly and can be suspicious of people at the slightest inconsistency." He scratches his head. "I'm actually kinda worried about his reaction to me being a demon." He sighs. "I'm worried he won't trust us." Elizabeth grabs his hand and squeezes it reassuringly.

"I'm sure he'll help. He's part of the team after all." She smiles at him and gets a smile in return. Meliodas pecks her on the lips.

"You're probably right. You usually are." He looks around. "Well it's going to be a slow day. We should probably find Ban anyway. He could find trouble in a locked room."

Meliodas and Elizabeth walk out of the bar leaving Hawk to watch the place and pick up Diane to help them search for Ban. The couple finds him first. He's staring at the sky and yelling.

"Now for the last time, who the hell are you?!"

Elizabeth looks at Meliodas who nods and appears behind Ban suddenly and bops him on the head with an empty flagon.

"Bad Ban!" Elizabeth starts giggling at the expression on Ban's face.

Ban sighs, turning to Meliodas. "Hey, Captain could you butt out? I'm kinda busy here."

"What's the matter with you?" Meliodas asks, hands on his hips. "You think you can just skip out on work?" Ban looks indignant and starts gesturing at a previously unseen floating individual.

"What's the matter with me? Some little punk I've never seen before came out of nowhere and started a fight!"

Meliodas looks up at the figure curiously. The person has light brown hair, wearing a blue and orange hoodie. Next to him was a spear and Meliodas realizes who it was.

Diane joins the group as well, "Alright. Someone better tell me what all the commotion is about." She looks at King curiously and realizes who she's looking at.

Suddenly both Diane and Meliodas shout out in joy. "King!"

Ban looks calm, but then his face turns to shock as he points up at King, "What? Tell me how that tiny creep's supposed to be King?!" Meliodas shrugs.

"Well maybe he lost a little weight?"

Ban starts waving around his arms. "A little?! And that ain't even the main issue here!"

Diane smiles at King, leaning closer to him. "King we came to look for you and now you're here! This is incredible, I'm so happy to see you again!" King just looks stoic and as he starts to fly away, Diane yells after him. "Harlequin wait!"

King suddenly stops moving and looks back at her in surprise. His voice is a mixture of hopeful and wary, "Wha-What did you call me?"

Diane smiles at him. "I remember everything. You and I have a promise to keep." She kisses him and his face goes tomato red. Meliodas smiles at them and grabs onto Elizabeth's hand as Ban just huffs trying to hide his expression. King finally notices their audience and his face changes from love to confusion.

"Captain, is that really you?" _'He looks exactly the same…'_ Meliodas smiles.

"Yep! I'm still me." King shakes his head fondly, and his gaze settles on the girl next to him. _'Who's the girl with wings? Is she a Goddess?'_ He notices the handholding._ 'Is she with the captain?'_ He backs a little away from Diane.

"I apologize for my rudeness." He bows at Elizabeth. "As I'm sure the Captain has told you, I am King, the Grizzly Sin of Sloth." Elizabeth beams at him and joins him in the air, which startles him for a second.

"I'm Elizabeth. It's wonderful to meet you King." She kind of curtsies, which he smiles a little at.

"May I ask why a Goddess is here with the Sins?" She smiles.

"I believe that would be best explained back at the bar." She glides back to the ground and grabs Meliodas' hand. King gains a look of confusion.

"Bar?"

Ban laughs. "Yep! The Cap'n runs a bar!" King gives him a look, but then looks to Diane who's still smiling at him and relaxes.

"Why am I not surprised?" He gestures for them to lead the way.

Ban spots the kids he was talking to and convinces them to come over to the bar with the promise of hot food and clean water.

~Boar Hat~

Later, Ban cooks up a feast. "Okay everybody dig in." The kids look on in shock.

"That smells amazing!"

"This looks great!" Elizabeth says, smiling up at Ban. "You're really good at this."

Ban smiles back, embarrassed but hiding it well. "Thanks Princess." King looks at Ban confused.

"Princess?" Meliodas hears his unspoken question.

"Oh right we forgot to mention Elizabeth here is the third princess of Liones."

King is gobsmacked. "WHAT!?" He turns to Elizabeth. "I am so sorry that I didn't address you properly, your Highness!" Elizabeth settles him with a gentle touch on the arm.

"King, you're royalty as well. We don't need any fancy titles or greeting between us, and even if you or I weren't they wouldn't be necessary. Okay?" He nods and relaxes.

~After Lunch~

"That was amazing!"

"Yeah it's the best I ever had, thank you so much!"

Elizabeth smiles at Ban. "It was fantastic Ban. Thank you."

Ban smiles Elizabeth and then at the children, "It's time for some give and take, alright? Now tell me everything you know about this Necropolis place."

Meliodas tilts his head, "What are you doing, Ban? Finding King was our mission, so there's no reason to go there anymore, right?" Ban nods in understanding.

"I get that Cap'n. That doesn't mean I don't want to find it."

"So you guys are trying to get into the Necropolis?" The boy interrupts the two Sins.

Ban and Meliodas look at him in surprise. The others exchange looks.

Hawks asks, "So it's actually here in this run down place?"

The boy shakes his head, "No, but it's not far away."

"Then, where is it exactly?" Elizabeth asks.

"The entrance to the Necropolis can be found here in this hamlet. But it's not a place that you can reach just because you want to."

Ban rests his chin on his hand. "Look man, riddles have never really been my thing."

King huffs. "Thinking has never really been your thing." Meliodas gives them a settle down look and they both quiet down. He then looks to the kids.

"So it's like a grave that's normally hidden, right?"

"It's not a grave at all." The boy responds. "It's a land unto itself. A place where you'll find the spirits of those who've died." Meliodas leans closer.

"Are we talking about the afterlife?"

"How could we reach a place like that?" Elizabeth adds.

"Tell me," Ban leans back in his chair. "Have you guys ever had a chance to go there yourselves?"

"Oh no of course not!" The young boy responds. "All that stuff's just superstitious nonsense!"

The little girl suddenly speaks up, "If you share with the dead your precious memories, they will lead you where you want to go."

The others look at her in shock.

"The man next door used to say that to us all the time." She continues. "That's all I know."

"Well thanks for the tip." Ban smiles at her, ruffling her hair. "Well done."

Melinda's claps the kids on the shoulder. "Why don't we pack you some supplies for the road and then go look for the Necropolis." The others all nod except for Hawk who visibly shakes in discomfort.

~Muertos Village~

The group was heading to the clearing where the entrance supposedly was, while Hawk was trying to get them to turn around.

"Even if this Necropolis place exists, there's no way to get to the other side! And what happens if we do get there? How will we get back?!"

"Well I guess to get there all we have to do is die, right?" Meliodas says nonchalantly.

Elizabeth hits Meliodas on the arm. "Don't joke like that!"

He laughs, holding his hands up in surrender. "Sorry Beautiful."

Hawk starts panicking again. "What about the coming back part?!" Meliodas just shrugs. "Don't act so indifferent!"

"Hey I've died before." Meliodas shrugs again even as his words catch the others attention. "Several time's in fact. It's not really that interesting." He ponders that for a minute. "Though that could be the whole coming back to life thing. Maybe it takes the good parts out?" Ban shrugs, Diane looks sad, Elizabeth grabs his hand, which he kisses, while King looks at him in bewilderment.

"What do you mean you've died and come back to life?" The others look at King in confusion, before it dawns on Meliodas.

"Duh! I knew we forgot something!" He turns to Elizabeth. "We forgot to tell him about us."

"Oh! Right!" She turns to King. "Well, you see it started over 3,000 years ago…" She goes through the story, which still brings tears to Diane and Hawks eyes. King himself goes from confusion to shock to anger to sympathy. "And now our curse has somehow been broken. We're still not sure how it happened or who might have done it, but we're free from it. Now, we're freeing the kingdom from the corrupt Holy Knights."

"Wow… there are no words." King looks at his Captain who kept his expression neutral. "I'm sorry for what you've been through, but I'm proud to follow you, Captain." Meliodas' expression shifts to a proud smile.

_'You would like this one Gloxinia. I know it,'_ "I'm proud to have you. I've always been proud to have you all fighting at my side and I always will." The Sins exchange smiles, before they finally make it to the clearing.

Elizabeth stops walking in the middle of the open space, "Share memories that are precious with the dead, huh? I wonder if we could meet any of our old comrades." Meliodas shrugs away the thought.

"I don't think so. Everyone on your side you have that connection with is still alive as far as I know and our close friends in Stigma are still alive." Diane looks at the Captain.

"What about your friends from the demon race?" The other Sins look at him with questioning glances. Meliodas scowls.

"My brother is still alive and I want nothing to do with those that are dead." The Sins share a glance. _'Brother?'_ Elizabeth nudges him.

"You know you miss Zeldris." Meliodas pouts.

"No I don't." She smiles at him.

"Yes you do. Don't deny it! You used to talk about him all the time when we talked about our pasts." Ban interrupts.

"Hey Cap'n… Who's Zeldris?" They all see Meliodas hesitate before sighing and running a hand through his hair.

"He's one of the Ten Commandments. He's also the Demon King's Executioner." He looks at them all before taking in a deep breath. "He's my younger brother. I haven't seen in over 3,000 years." Diane looks ready to cry again, while the boys just look down. Ban speaks up.

"For some reason… I never really thought about the fact the Demon Clan had families. It's just… my entire life I thought they were extinct or were just a legend. They never seemed real." Meliodas shakes his head.

"I'm not surprised. I know the Demon Clan has a bad reputation and it's a well deserved one, but we are just like any other race. We have families and people we care for." Diane sniffs.

"I'm sorry you haven't seen your brother in so long Meliodas." He just waves away the statement.

"It's alright. I have to believe I'll see him again. I just hope he doesn't kill me." He mutters the last sentence. "Okay enough of that! Think of someone that you miss that is no longer alive."

After a minute or two everyone looks around in surprise to see that the once barren field now had roses covering every available surface. Ban and King recognize them as Elaine's favorite flowers.

"What the hell is this?"

Suddenly the petals from the roses start swirling around the group as they stare in surprise.

"Hey you guys! Be careful!"

The group turned to see the two children.

The petals pick up speed, blocking all sight and creating a strong wind. Suddenly the petals disperse, showing the group that they were now standing in a world made entirely of large green crystals.

~The Necropolis~

Meliodas whistles impressed.

"Captain…" Diane looks at him in confusion.

"Sorry. It's just… this place is amazing. In all my travels I can honestly say I've never seen anything like the Necropolis."

Ban looks around and spots someone through one of the crystals. He starts running in the direction of the figure, King on his heels. Meliodas yells after them.

"Ban! King!" He turns to the girls (and Hawk). "Let's follow." The nods and they all start running.

They finally find an open area that was surrounded by smaller green crystals. Ban and King were standing In front of a bunch of yellow lights that were grouped together.

Ban smiles blissfully, while King looks baffled. Meliodas, Diane and Hawk were staring at the lights in confusion, while Elizabeth was smiling beautifully in the direction of the lights. Meliodas notices her focused gaze and whispers to her.

"What do you see?" She smiles at him.

"Hello Elaine." says Ban. Elaine smiles at him lovingly.

"Hello Ban." She looks over at a tears eyed King. "Hello Brother."

"Elaine!" He tearfully exclaims. "I've missed you."

"And I you." She looks between them both. "Both of you." Elizabeth walks up to them.

"Hello Elaine."

The female fairy looks at her shocked. _'How can she see me?'_

"My name is Elizabeth." The Princess looks at Ban and King, and then at Meliodas who gives her an encouraging nod. "I'm a Goddess and I believe I can help you." She says with a gentle smile as everyone, except Meliodas, looks at her in shock.

"Really?"

"Don't play with me Princess!"

"You can help me?"

She just smiles at them all and grabs one of Elaine's hands. "I finally remembered how." She looks at her lover. "Would you mind helping me Meliodas?" He smiles as he walks over to her and grabs her free hand.

"As if you have to ask."

She beams, then looks to Ban and King. "Alright. King you are going to provide a magical anchor by holding her hand and Ban you are going to provide a physical anchor by holding her shoulders."

Diane speaks up as they get in position.

"What's the Captain doing?"

"He's doing the same thing, but for me." The others look at each other.

"Is Cap'n strong enough to do that?" Meliodas smirks.

"If you asked that before the curse was broken I would've said maybe, but now…" He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. It's peaceful for a moment before he opens his eyes as he releases some of the hold on his magic.

It's dark. Everyone, except Elizabeth and Elaine, get shivers up their spines as they feel the darkness like a heartbeat, pulsing through the air, into their very beings. The crest sits on his forehead like both a brand and a warning, eyes now dark green look almost black and bottomless. Elizabeth just smiles at him.

"There's the Meliodas I remember best." His smirk widens. The others look at her like she's crazy.

"It's your turn gorgeous." She smirks at him and then closes her eyes. When she opens them you could feel the light coming off of her in soothing waves, easing the nerves that were frayed by the previous darkness.

"Alright let's do this." Ban and King nod determinedly and brace themselves, Diane and Hawk take cover behind the crystals, Meliodas just watches Elizabeth and gets into a steady stance, while Elizabeth takes a deep breath.

**"Bring this fairy who is so loved,**

**Back to the land of the living,**

**I call, I plead, and I demand,b**

**ARC OF LIFE!"**

The others can see her power manifest to where it feels like they could reach out and touch it as it goes into Elaine. Diane could see how Meliodas keeps her from falling and uses his own magic to give Elizabeth strength. With the last burst of light it was over. Ban, King, and the newly revived Elaine collapse, while Elizabeth sways and Meliodas staggers a little before helping her over to a crystal for her to sit on.

"Are you alright? It's been a long time since you've done that." She smiles at him and places a hand on his cheek, which he leans into.

"I'm fine, thanks to you." She kisses him lovingly on the lips. "Are you alright? I know you were trying to limit your power output during that spell."

"Yeah I'm fine. I'm just going to put the seal back on." He closes his eyes and as he breathes out the darkness in the air recedes. When he opens his eyes they're back to their normal emerald green. She kisses his cheek and does the same. She then looks over to the piles of bodies a couple feet away.

"Would you please check on them for me?"

"Of course my love." He walks over to their collapsed friends, while Diane looks over at Elizabeth with concern.

"Are you alright?" Elizabeth smiles at her tiredly.

"Yeah. Just takes a bit out of me to do that. I'll be alright. I just need to rest."

The girls look over at the sound of groans from the pile of bodies. Ban grabs his head before looking to his left and spotting Elaine sitting up.

"Elaine!" She looks over and starts beaming.

"Ban!" He takes her in his arms and kisses her. They separate to catch their breath. "I've missed you so much!" Ban just pulls her back in for a kiss. They're interrupted by a throat being cleared behind them. They turn towards the sound and spot King who looks a mixture of protective and embarrassed.

"I don't need to see you kissing my sister!" Ban just smirks and King rolls his eyes. "Anyway…" He pulls his sister away from Ban and hugs her eagerly. A gesture which is returned wholeheartedly. "I missed you, Elaine. I'm so sorry for everything. I never should have left." Elaine hugs him tighter.

"No brother. It was good that you left. I may never have met Ban if you didn't leave; you may not have met Diane or any of your friends if you hadn't left. There's nothing to forgive." She sniffs. "I love you Harlequin."

"I love you too sister." They stood there holding each other for minute, before breaking apart and smiling at each other. They separate when Ban comes over and pulls Elaine into his arms. Ban looks over to the sitting Goddess.

"Thank you." Elaine looks over as well.

"Oh yes! Thank you for everything! I can never repay you." Elizabeth smiles at them.

"There is nothing to repay. I know what it's like to be separated from the one you love." Meliodas walks over to her and sits by her, taking a gentle hold of her hand. "I would never wish it on anyone." Meliodas kisses her chastely then smiles at her, before turning to their friends.

"So now what? There has to be a way out of here for living people."

"Not for you." The group spins around to the source of the voice. It's a woman with black hair and pink armor carrying a lance.

Meliodas stands up in front of Elizabeth, while Ban does the same with Elaine and King and Diane analyze the newcomer.

Hawk just looks at her. "Who are you supposed to be?!"

"I am the Holy Knight Guila." She at King. "I'm surprised by your betrayal King, after all the trust Gilthunder had in you. It seems he miscalculated." King shrugs nonchalantly.

"Of course. I never said I would work with you forever. Afterall, the Holy Knights wanted the Sins destroyed. I just wanted to kill Ban. Now that I have no reason to kill him, we have no reason to work together."

"Well then, prepare to take me on all at once, don't go easy, I did kill myself to be here." Guila points her lance at all of them. The Sins exchange glances; King then flies forward as the rest of them take seats around the crystal Elizabeth was sitting on.

"No, one on one will be enough." King spins his spear around slowly before pointing it at Guila, who looks at him with boredom.

"Seriously?" _'Just one measly Sin?'_

Meliodas and Ban just exchange smiles from where they were sitting and call out encouragement, "Alright King go for it!"

"You know I'll kick your ass if you don't!" King sends them a neutral look as Guila gets into position. He turns to her as she starts talking.

"Alright now then-" but before Guila could finish speaking King's spear goes flying past her face, leaving behind a cut on her cheek. King sighs boredly.

"No… That's not good. Try dodging a little." He sends the spear at her again.

_'Did I misread him?'_ Guila continues jumping away; blocking the spear from almost hitting her, while King controls the spear's movements with his hand. She then jumps onto the top of a tall green crystal, and raises her sword in the air to form a giant fireball in the air. The spectators squint at the brightness.

Meliodas just comments, "That's really bright." As Guila shouts her spell.

"Brilliant detonation!" The giant fireball turns into smaller ones as they shoot towards King, who just watches with disinterest.

"Spirit Spear Chastiefol, Fifth Configuration, Increase" He snaps his fingers causing his spear to turn into multiple small daggers, which intercept the incoming rain of fire causing a massive explosion surprising Guila, who then notices the hundreds of daggers floating above her.

King points his hand down and the daggers shoot down on Guila destroying the crystal she was on, defeating her. Diane looks at him in awe as Elain looks at him with pride.

"That was amazing King." King blushes while smiling at her. He turns around at the sound of crystals shifting. Guila stands up slowly before making a lunge for King.

"LOOK OUT!" Diane and Elaine both yell, while King looks at Guila annoyed.

"You spear can't save you now!" Suddenly Meliodas appears between them.

"Right back at you."

_'Damn, full counter.'_ The explosion went off around her sending her away. Everyone takes a second to try to sense her.

"I don't sense Guila anymore." Elaine calmly explains.

"That blast probably sent her back to the living world, you all came here as flesh and blood, while she seemed to be here in spirit only." Suddenly pieces of golden light started appearing on everybody.

Hawk looks at his ear with concern. "Uh what's happening to my ears."

"What is happening?" Elizabeth examines the light.

"I think we're going back."

"That's right." The group turns around and finds the children from the village that now look like spirits. "The Necropolis senses that you don't belong here, so it's sending you back."

Ban gives them an incredulous look. "What are you two doing here?" Ellen answers.

"We are the guardians of the entrance to the Necropolis. We are meant to guide those who truly need to come here to the entrance and explain what needs to be explained."

The boy waves at them. "Goodbye! Be careful out there!" Then next thing they all see is a flash of gold light before they are back in the grassy field.

~Later~

The group had just settled down by the lake for some dinner, telling stories and asking questions. Elaine, from her spot being held by Ban, had just been told about Meliodas and Elizabeth's curse, "I'm sorry you two had to go through that." Elizabeth smiles warmly.

"It's alright. We're both just happy to be together again." Meliodas squeezes her hand.

"Now we're finding the other Sins, so we can save the kingdom."

King speaks up from his seat on Chastiefol, which is floating by Diane. "Well... the easiest way to take back the kingdom is with our sacred treasures." He glances at the other Sins, "So where are yours?"

Diane looks embarrassed.

"I lost mine."

Meliodas starts smirking.

"Sold mine."

"Mine got stolen." Elizabeth and Elaine giggle at their answers, while King looks at them with disappointment.

"Shame on you." He takes a deep breath before looking specifically at Meliodas. "So let me get this straight. You took the sacred treasure that was given to you by the King of Liones himself… And sold it!" Meliodas shrugs.

"I needed seed money for the tavern." King sighs, then looks at Ban.

"Yours was stolen." Ban shrugs.

"The knights took it when they threw my butt into that prison." Elaine rubs his hand that is holding hers.

King then looks serious as he turns to a sad looking Diane, "Am I a bad girl?" King tries to stop her from crying.

"If it got misplaced, then it's not your fault! We'll just have to find it!" Hawk snorts in confusion.

"I don't understand why you're getting so upset, King… these guys do pretty well with what they have." King looks at the pig a moment before explaining.

"Sir pig."

_'Uh, Sir Pig.'_

"Imagine this lake represents all the power used by one of the sins." King points at the lake. "How much would you be able to take by just using your hands?"

_'Uh hands.'_

"No matter how much you get, you're limited to how much you can actually hold." He demonstrates by lifting up a stream of water. "But, if you have a magical item, like a sacred treasure." King points his hand at the lake and forms a large water sphere above the lake, "You can hold greater amounts." Meliodas nods in agreement.

"Sacred treasures are pretty awesome."

"Yeah you're right." Hawk then grabs the front of Meliodas shirt with his two front legs, "Why did you give up yours ham head?!" Elizabeth smiles at their interaction.

"It's too bad we don't have your broadsword from our Stigma days." Meliodas contemplates that.

"I'm actually worried that would be overkill." Ban tilts his head in confusion.

"What sword?" Meliodas comes out of his contemplation.

"Huh?" He shakes his head. "Oh. There was this sword I was fond of back then. It was about 16, maybe 18 inches wide, a couple inches thick, and easily 10 feet long." Everyone looks at him in shock. "What? I could wield that sword now, but I think it might be overkill." King is the first to get past the shock.

"If we're going to save the kingdom. We're going to have to find your sacred treasures." Diane leans back onto her hands.

"Can this wait until morning at least?"

"Of course Diane!" He flies closer to her. "None of this needs to be done now!" She smiles at him happily, before kissing him. He goes completely red, much to the amusement of the couples below. Ban holds Elaine closer as a feeling of happiness washes over him.

"I still can't believe you're here."

Elaine wraps her arms around him, "I can't either." She hugs him and he hugs her back.

King looks to see Ban and Elaine holding each other. _'I'm happy that she's back. I'm even happy she's with Ban. They're good for each other.'_

Elizabeth looks at the happy couple sadly.

"Elaine, you may have been brought back, but I think you should stay in the Fairy King's Forest to completely recover." Ban and King look crestfallen. Elaine glances at King and Ban, before nodding to Elizabeth.

"Alright. Oslo can take me back." She kisses Ban on the cheek. "Come back to me safely, Ban." He shakes his head in denial.

"No! I just got you back, I'm not leaving you! I'll go with you!" She smiles at him fondly.

"No. They need you more than I do." She kisses him lovingly. "Go with them and then come back to me." He sighs.

"Alright." Elizabeth lays a hand on her shoulder getting her attention.

"I think that can also wait until morning." Elaine smiles before snuggling into Ban.

~Later~

That night Meliodas walks into his and Elizabeth's room to find Elizabeth holding her earring, he knocks on the door to get her attention. "It's really nice." Meliodas closes the door behind him. Elizabeth smiles before patting the spot next to her.

"It was given to me by Margaret on one of my birthdays, she's always been nice." She smiles as Meliodas holds her hand. "Veronica was another story, I remember father always having to scold her when she was seen playing with swords." Meliodas smiles at her.

"Don't worry, we'll find the other Sins and rescue the Royal family." Elizabeth smiles at him before leaning in and kissing him.

His hands start roaming her body touching everything they can. She giggles before pushing him back. "You're insatiable." He smirks rougishly.

"If you want to stop we can." She grabs the front of his shirt before swiftly taking it off.

"I never said I'm not insatiable." She then claims his mouth with her own, causing him to groan, a deep purring growl that sent shivers down her spine.

* * *

Meliodas flipped her around so she was looking up at him.

"I love you." Before capturing her lips in a searing kiss. Her hands automatically went to his hair as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

"I love you too." She then flips them over so that she is on top. She starts grinding on his thigh, letting him feel how wet she was. Meliodas groans as he grips her waist tightly. He sits up to a seating position and leans down to suck on her breasts. Elizabeth gasps and grinds harder. He couldn't resist anymore and just cups her womanhood with his hand, reaching to her clit to fondle it.

"I'll never grow tired of this."

He flips them over again, they look at each lovingly for a few seconds before diving in for a searing kiss. He continues his previous attention on her wet pussy as their tongues battled for dominance. After a few minutes, he pulls away from the kiss, causing her to groan in frustration. He chuckles as he trailed kisses downwards. His mouth quickly descends on her nipple, flicking his tongue over the tip before he suckles gently. Elizabeth presses her chest into his mouth as her hands weave themselves into his hair, just to keep him close and never let him pull away.

"Meliodas!" He smirks around the nipple before nipping it playfully and giving the same treatment to the other one. Elizabeth mewles, which causes Meliodas to growl and removes him mouth from her breast just to take off all their remaining clothes.

"Are you ready?" She just pants before pulling him into a kiss. Without hesitation he sheathes himself inside of her, causing her to moan in pleasure.

Meliodas starts out slow, causing Elizabeth to whimper. He continues his thrusts, increasing his speed and power. She chants his name like a prayer, loving the fact that her body shook with every thrust. The way he pounded her was a reminder of how powerful and how great his libido was. They could just stay in bed all day and she wouldn't mind.

"Yes! Meliodas, harder, faster!" He growls in her ear.

"Anything you say my Goddess." He increases his speed. The sound of skin against skin, moans, groans, and small screams filled up the room. He lifts her legs and settles them on his shoulders. With the new angle, he was able to hit the oh-so-sweet spot that always had her on the edge. She lets out a wail as she feels her orgasm rising through.

"I'm gonna come!" she moans.

"Me too," he grunts. After a few more thrusts, they came at the same time. Meliodas still continues thrusting even as he fills her. Elizabeth lets out a sensual moan as she feels his hot cum fill her up. Meliodas groans as he gently slides out of her and wraps his arms around her in post-orgasmic bliss.

* * *

The two of them were breathing in and out, tired from their love-making.

Elizabeth rests her head on Meliodas's chest. "Wow." Meliodas just nods in agreement. She looks up at him. "Hey Meliodas?"

"Hmm?"

"Do you remember when we we're talking about why our curse was broken?"

"Yeah." He plays with some of her hair. "You think our curse was broken because of a Holy War." Elizabeth nods. "And I thought that it was a less dangerous reason, maybe someone just having pity on us." She nods again. "Don't worry. If someone did want to start a Holy War they would need to break the seal. My dragon handle is a piece of it and the other thing they would need is-" He stops, and Elizabeth smiles softly at him.

"The blood of a goddess." Meliodas shakes his head as though to banish the idea. He smiles at her and holds her tighter.

"I will protect you from anyone and everyone who would try to get to you." He then kisses her, she kisses back, turning it more passionate as Meliodas gets on top of Elizabeth. Elizabeth giggles and moans from both of them are the only sound they make for the rest of the night.

* * *

**Now to those of you who are fans of Elaine: I love her too! But… I just can't imagine her in this rewrite. I may bring her around later… not sure yet. ****I'm also ignoring the whole Mael and Estarossa character and storyline.**

**Also I can't guarantee that I will update next month, but I will try my best!**


	7. Vaizel's May Vary

**MERRY CHRISTMAS!**

**Sorry about the wait. I had a horrible time figuring out parts of this chapter! The beginning was honestly the hardest part. Disclaimer: If I owned this series, I think writing this story would be a lot easier.**

* * *

Chapter 7 aka Vaizel's May Vary

~Outside the Boar Hat~

The next morning everyone is gathered outside on Mama Hawks back, except Diane who's walking beside the giant pig, for Elaine's departure. King clears his throat.

"I'm going to miss you Elaine." The fairy smiles at her brother before pulling him into a hug.

"I shall miss you as well Harlequin."

Ban looks at Elaine longingly as she says her goodbyes to the others. Meliodas notices and stands beside him. After watching his Goddess hug the fairy woman, he puts a hand on Ban's arm. "I know that not being with her is hard. Just remember that you'll see her again."

Ban looks at the Captain skeptically at first before he remembers. '_I forget that he's had to deal with similar pain for thousands of years. Worse… he didn't even know how long he had with her each time.'_ He smiles a little at Meliodas. "Thanks Cap'n." Meliodas returns the smile before patting Ban on the arm and walking over to his own lady love.

"C'mon Elizabeth. Let's give them a moment alone." Meliodas grabs Elizabeth's hand as they all leave to give the couple some privacy to say their own goodbyes. Ban gives his friend a nod of thanks, which is returned, before embracing Elaine.

"As soon as the kingdom is safe I'll be joining you. Don't forget."

"I'll be waiting." Ban brings Elaine in for one last kiss, which is returned passionately. "I love you, Ban."

"And I love you, Elaine." They separate as Elaine goes through the portal, leaving Ban alone.

~Later~

"So where are we headed next Captain?" King asks while floating around on Chastiefol.

"I was thinking Vaizel. I've heard rumors about a giant hammer that no one can wield. I'm hoping it's Diane's sacred treasure."

Diane squeals. "Oh I hope so! I miss Gideon."

Meliodas nods in agreement. "I know what you mean, I miss Lostvayne. Anyway, we should be there soon, we'll find out then."

~Forest Outside of Vaizel~

"Alright! We're here!" Meliodas announces as Mama Hawk comes to a stop. "We'll go have a look around; see if we can find Gideon." He turns to Diane. "You'll have to stay here and watch over the bar Diane."

She starts pouting. "Why?! It's my sacred treasure!" King flies up closer to her face.

"Apparently the town has had issues with giants in the past. They may be wary of you. We don't want them to try to hurt you." King gives her an apologetic smile, she returns it with an understanding look.

"Okay. I'll stay behind." Diane turns at the sound of wings to see Elizabeth flying up to her eye level.

"Don't worry Diane. I'm staying behind as well. We can have some girl time." She giggles a little at the look of excitement that comes onto Diane's face.

Meliodas and King exchange fond smiles before kissing their lady loves goodbye and heading into town. Diane turns to Elizabeth.

"So what do you want to talk about first?" Elizabeth thinks for a second before a smirk briefly appears before hiding behind an innocent look.

"If you and King have sex who would be on top?"

"ELIZABETH! I thought you were supposed to be a Goddess!"

"So? The love of my life is a prince of the demon realm. I learned a lot from him. Including-."

"ELIZABETH!"

~Vaizel~

The town is bustling with people, out of towners and locals alike. Venders are hawking out wares and encouraging sales, while potential customers are looking at fliers and competing stalls looking for bargains. This is what the male Sins walk into when they enter the marketplace looking for any hint that Gideon is in town.

Ban scratches his head in confusion. "How could a town this size even hide a hammer that's several stories tall?" Meliodas shrugs.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling we'll find it soon." Meliodas bumps into an old man in a large robe carrying around a bottle of liquor. "Sorry Sir. I didn't see you there. Are you alright?" The old man looks at him for a second, it seems like he recognizes him, before he smiles.

"Oh I'm just fine. I'm a lot tougher than I look. So… are you kids here for the fight festival?" Meliodas shakes his head.

"Nope, didn't even know there was one. We're here because we heard rumors of there being a giant hammer somewhere in the village and we wanted so see it." The old man chuckles.

"Well the rumors were right. There's a giant hammer over by the arena. It's the prize for whoever wins the tournament." The three Sins exchange glances, before King speaks up.

"Why would they award the winner with a hammer they probably can't even lift?" The old man shrugs and starts walking away

"Not my problem kid!" The Sins exchange another glance before heading towards the arena.

There in the rock base of the arena, was the giant war-hammer Gideon. Ban whistles.

"There it is. Wow! I wonder how Diane could have left it there?" Meliodas tilts his head in thought.

"She must have leaned it there when she stopped for the night and then forgot it in the morning when she went into hiding."

"Hello everybody!" The Sins turn to the source of the shout and spot a small person in a red cloak, wearing a helmet with two horns on it, standing/floating in the middle of the arena. "It's time for the annual Vaizel Fight Festival! I'm you're friendly referee Luvhelm. The grand prize for the person who wins this year is this giant war-hammer!" He gestures to the war-hammer with a flourish. King rolls his eyes at the sight of the large crowd.

"What a barbaric gathering, right Captain?" King looks at Ban and Meliodas, both of whom are smiling. Meliodas shakes his head.

"There's nothing wrong with a fighting festival King. It's fun, a lot of people enjoy it and it's a great stress reliever." Ban nudges Meliodas.

"You thinkin' of signing up Cap'n?"

"Nah." At Ban and King's looks of shock he elaborates. "I don't think I could hold back enough to not seriously injure someone. I just don't want to risk it, but you two can have fun." Ban wraps an arm around him.

"Come on Captain! It will be fun. You and I will go thought the competion quickly and then face each other in the final match. It'll be great." Meliodas brushes off Ban's arm, taking a step back and bumping into an overly muscular man.

"Sorry." The man looks down at him with a scowl. He then lifts Meliodas up from the ground with ease, which causes King to start choking and Ban to clench his fists. The man growls out, "This isn't a place for little kids." Meliodas just looks at him with an expression that basically screams indifference.

"Sorry. I don't see the problem here."

When Taizu's grip gets harsher Meliodas sighs in exasperation. '_Why do I have to be so short?'_ He gently backhands Taizu, which causes him to lose his grip and go flying into the far cliff side. Meliodas brushes the dirt off his clothes before looking at his team. "That is why I'm not competing." He then walks off before the crowd can figure out what happened.

Ban lowly whistles. "I forgot about that. That could have outed us."

"WHO WAS THAT!?" Ban and King turn to see a tall blonde man that was looking between Taizu, who was pulling himself out of the cliff, and where Meliodas had been standing.

Ban just shrugs and walks away, King following close behind. '_I know him from somewhere, but where?'_

They quickly catch up to Meliodas, who continues their conversation like Taizu never appeared. "So what about you King? You going to compete?" King vehemently shakes his head.

"No way! You know I can hardly fight without Chastiefol. I'm not going to get hurt just for Ban's entertainment." Ban laughs at this.

"That's fine. I'll just win the tournament and get the hammer for Diane." King scowls at the thought of Ban giving Diane the hammer before shaking it off. '_She loves me and Ban loves Elaine, there's no need to be even a little jealous.' _Ban interrupts his thoughts. "Well, wish me luck." He then steps into the ring. Meliodas shouts at him.

"Don't lose or you'll be embarrassing me." King actually snorts at the encouragement, while Ban chuckles through the sound of the starting bell.

As the people in the arena start fighting, Hawk emerges from the crowd wearing a barrel of ale and a money pouch. '_They better count themselves lucky that I'm not in this fight.'_ He snorts before yelling out, "Alright everyone! Get your ale here! I'm The Boar Hats travelling salesman!"

Meliodas and King are standing in the crowd when they spot a girl in the arena, wearing a cloak, toss out a huge fat man with ease. "Wow she's strong."

"I should think so." Meliodas looks to his right with shock as the girl takes off her cloak revealing she's wearing one of Meliodas's white shirts, a pair of Ban's black pants, Elizabeth's white shoes and her hair is braided. "She is a shrunken giantess after all." King looks at the girl in the arena with shock.

"Elizabeth! Where are your wings?!"

"Diane! What happened to her?!"

~Later~

"The final six will now take a quick break as we set up for the next round!" The last ones standing were Taizu, a big bulky guy in purple (Griamore), Howzer, a big guy who just looked like a black haired version of Taizu, Ban, and Diane.

Meliodas looks at Elizabeth. "So… you're telling me that you and Diana just happened to come across a…"

"Chicken-Matango." King interjects.

Meliodas nods. "Yeah that, and it sprayed you both with spores. Diane got the full effect, but only your wings got affected." Elizabeth pouts.

"Yeah my wings blocked the powder from me, but now…" She turns around showing wings about the size of a doves sprouting from her back. Meliodas looks at them in awe then strokes one of them gently.

"Can you still fly?"

Elizabeth pouts. "Yeah, but I think it looks silly."

"It should just be temporary. At least we can hide under the radar a little more." He gives her a chaste kiss. "I still love you." She smiles at him. "You're still the most gorgeous Goddess I've ever seen."

She blushes. "Thank you."

"The first round is about to begin. It's Howzer versus Taizu!" The group in the audience look to see the blonde man from earlier step into the ring along with the guy Meliodas tossed away. King studies the blonde for a moment.

"Wait, I remember him! He's a Holy Knight." Elizabeth gasps.

"You're right. That's Howzer, he's Gilthunder's best friend." She looks down "Or at least he was." Meliodas grabs her hand as Ban and Diane join them.

"So what's going on Cap'n?"

"There are a couple of Holy Knights in the crowd." He deadpans. Ban just shrugs.

"I hope we're not recognized. The tournament would be canceled."

King hits Ban upside the head. "That's not the important part here Ban." Diane nods.

"Yeah what's important is we get my hammer back." King facepalms. '_That's not it either.'_

"What's important is we can't be caught." The other Sins look at him like he's stupid. Elizabeth giggles at the look as Meliodas looks King in the eye.

"We're the Seven Deadly Sins. We don't get caught. We get spotted, we fight our way out, we win, then we go home. It's how we work." King takes a moment to contemplate that statement, then nods in agreement.

"Taizu is out! Going on to the next round is Howzer!" The Sins tune in to the announcers call of the next lineup. "Next we have Griamore versus Matrona!"

Ban tilts his head. "Who's Matrona?" Diane walks toward the ring.

"An old friend." King gives her a kiss before she steps into the ring, which she returns passionately earning whistles from the audience. She goes into the ring with a bright smile, while King is left blushing like a fool. Ban pats him on the back with a hearty chuckle as Howzer walks up to the group. Elizabeth hides behind Ban who stands a little closer to the crowd to hide her.

"Hey you!" He looks at Meliodas. "You're the kid that threw Taizu into the cliff earlier aren't ya?"

"Nope." '_I'm not a kid. I'm over 3,000 years old, and a knight several times over where's the respect?' _Howzer looks at Ban, who stares at him with boredom.

"That's an awful big scar on your cheek." '_Just like the guy on the wanted poster_.' "Where did you get it?" Ban shrugs disinterested. '_And this kid… I'm pretty sure Gilthunder said the captain of the Seven Deadly Sins was a kid.' _

Howzer smiles and laughs, "Nah you couldn't be them! You guys look completely different." He walks away toward where he saw Griamore had crash landed down the hill. The Sins exchange looks as Diane approaches the group and Elizabeth grabs Meliodas's hand.

Ban shrugs. "Well that was easy."

"Yeah, because he's dumb." Meliodas deadpans. The group chuckles at this as the announcer calls the next round.

"Next round we have Saccularius verses Tardum!" Meliodas tilts his head in confusion as Ban claps his hand once in excitement.

"That's me!"

"Ban…" The immortal tilts his head in attention. "Since when did you know Latin?"

"I'm a man of many talents." As he walks into the ring Diane turns to the Captain.

"Which one is Ban?"

"I'm guessing Saccularius."

"Oh… What does that mean?"

"It's one of the words for thief in Latin."

~Midair~

In the air, on the way to Vaizel, are some Holy Knights riding on two winged creatures that look like a cross between stingrays and whales. On one is a knight wearing round armor that covers his body except for his hands and legs which stuck out and his eyes so he could see.

On the other creature is Guila and a more feminine looking Jericho, who was eager to get to their destination.

"Guila, how much longer till we reach Vaizel?" Guila sighs.

"You shouldn't be so worried Jericho."

"I can't wait anymore, I'm ready to test the full strength of my new power." She practically trembles in excitement at the idea. Guila smiles serenely.

"Soon Jericho. Soon."

~Vaizel Hillside~

"Hey stupid, get up."

Griamore opens his eyes hearing someone trying to get him to wake up, "Griamore, come on get up." He looks up to see a girl with purple hair standing above him. He gets up only to kneel at the girls feet.

"Princess Veronica, please forgive me!" She sighs in exasperation and facepalms.

"If I knew this was going to happen, I would have brought Gilthudner with me." Griamore looks down with disappointment at his self perceived failing, only to look up at the approaching Howzer.

"Well, well what do we have here?" He looks between the two with a smirk. "Hey Griamore, yo to you as well Princess Veronica."

"Howzer, wouldn't you rather be watching the fights?" Griamore grumbles.

"Nah, this ones not as interesting, but more importantly." His expression goes from playful to serious. "What are you doing all the way out here with Princess Veronica?" Veronica stands up straight with all the dignity her station demands.

"We are looking for my sister, Elizabeth. We have reason to believe she is traveling with the Seven Deadly Sins. Our intel says that they are here for the Fighting Festival grand prize."

"The Princess is here! Wait! The Seven Deadly Sins are here! I gotta get back!" He starts running for the arena. Veronica yells at his turned back.

"Wait! Don't do anything until we find Elizabeth! We may never find her again!"

"You got that right! Stay out of this! I'm not missing this opportunity!" '_I can finally see the Sins in action! Yes! I've dreamed of this!'_

~Vaizel Arena~

"Wow! Did you see that folks?! Saccularius just tossed Tardum out of the ring like it was nothing! Spectacular! Alright everyone since we had six finalist instead of the usual eight we're going to do best two out of three with the last contestants. Starting with Howzer versus Matrona!"

The shrunken giantess climbs into the ring, where Howzer is already standing eagerly. Elizabeth yells from the crowd with a smile. "Go Matrona!" Diane looks at the group before blowing a kiss at King.

Howzer looks over to the group and spots the Princess first. '_There's Princess Elizabeth. I wonder why she's with them?'_ He softens his scrutiny. '_She looks so happy.'_ He continues looking over the group. '_The guy with the scar must be Ban. I wonder who the kid with the pillow is? Wait! I remember! That's King duh! The blonde must be Meliodas their Captain! Oh this is awesome!'_ He looks over at his opponent. '_Gil said Diane is with the group, but they also say she's a giantess… is this girl really the Sin of Envy?'_

"Begin!" Howzer shakes off the thought and focuses on the fight.

~Crowd~

'_Well this'll be quick.'_ Meliodas yawns and looks over at Elizabeth. '_She seems a little anxious.' _He grabs her hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze, which earns him a smile as she relaxes. '_The last time she was this anxious was when Derieri and Monspeet became indura.'_

Meliodas comes out of memory lane to see Elizabeth looking into the distance with a worried look. "What is it?" He follows her gaze and spots the source of her unease. The Sins notice their tenseness and go on alert.

"What's going on Captain?"

"Some Holy Knights are approaching, and I don't think they're here for the festival." The group goes silent as even the opponents freeze. Elizabeth then lets go of Meliodas's hand and stands up in front of the crowd in the center of the arena.

"Everyone. Please evacuate!" Her voice gets the attention of Barzaard who looks at her in shock in the crowd and Howzer who had never seen the Princess be so commanding. "Your village is about to come under attack by a powerful force. It will not be safe here!" The crowd looks at her with disbelief.

"Why should we believe you?!"

"For all we know you just want to scare us away from our homes!"

Meliodas scowls at the insinuation, even if he understands it. He sees Elizabeth isn't going to be able to get them to leave peacefully and joins her in front of the crowd.

"Because the Seven Deadly Sins are taking over!" He shows off his mark as the other join him on the platform and show off theirs. He even unleashes a little bit of an unnerving aura to make it easier to send the audience away. Howzer backs off a little trying to spot Griamore or Veronica.

Ban shrugs. "Yeah. You don't want to make us angry do ya."

Someone in the crowd looks at the sky, "Hey what's that!" he says pointing up. The audience finally spots the incoming fireballs heading towards town. As they strike the ground leaving behind massive destruction, the crowd starts screaming. Elizabeth and Meliodas share a determined look before they both leap towards the danger. Elizabeth's wings glow for a second before unfurling in their full glory along with Meliodas's shadow wings appearing from his back as they take off.

"Captain!"

"Elizabeth!"

When they were in front of the town they unleashed their powers till they were slightly glowing with energy. The Sins watch them with confidence, while the civilians look on in awe. Howzer, Griamore and Veronica gaze upon them in shock.

"Reflective Light!"

"Full Counter!"

The impending meteors seem to freeze midair and turn around hitting the following attack, stopping it in its tracks.

The Sins exchange looks as the Demon and Goddess land in front of them. Ban smirks. "So now the real fighting starts?" Meliodas throws his own smirk at him. King transforms Chastiefol to its spear configuration as he asks.

"What's the plan Captain?"

"Alright, Diane when the spores wear off, grab Gideon and join the fight. Until then you are in charge of crowd safety, try to get everyone out of here as quickly as you can."

"I can help." The group turns to see Howzer is still on the platform. "I know we're supposed to be on opposite sides, but these people are innocent. So I say for the time being we have a truce." He stretches a hand forward, which Diane looks at hesitantly before looking at Meliodas who nods. She shakes his hand.

"Don't disappoint me." Howzer nods.

"You do the same." Diane nods. Meliodas looks at them as they leave, then to the rest.

"Elizabeth, you deal with your sister. You know she's looking for you and will only get herself hurt looking for you." The Goddess nods before kissing him quickly and flying off. "The rest of us will split up and each go after a knight." The boys nod and head for the battlefield.

~Veronica~

"Ellie! Ellie!" Is shouted throughout the town by a worried big sister looking for her missing sibling.

"Princess Veronica." The sister turns around to the sight of her personal bodyguard Holy Knight Griamore. "We must evacuate. The flames are brutal. It's not safe."

"I can't! If Ellie is here I must rescue her! This is my best shot at bringing her home." She runs off. "Ellie!" Griamore runs after her.

"Wait! Princess Veronica!"

~Ban~

Ban whistles lowly. "These Knights sure know how to throw a party." A rock flies past him right before he's stabbed through and pinned to a wall, coughing up blood from the force of the impact.

"You have no idea how long I've missed you!" Jericho whispers huskily. "Does that hurt?" He smiles ecstatically.

"Now this is the kind of action every good festival outta have!" He looks at her again. "Hey do I know you from somewhere?"

She chuckles lowly. "My name is Jericho. If I said I was the Holy Knight apprentice you humiliated back in Baste Prison would you remember me then?" Ban seems to think for a minute.

"Oh yeah! So you're that barber boy." He examines her before smiling. "I didn't know you were into cross dressing." Jeircho scowls at him before roughly taking out the sword; making sure the wound was enlarged on the way out.

"God Speed Ten Slashes!" Multiple slashes cut into Ban making him fall to the ground in pain. He tries to get up.

"What the hell!" '_Something's wrong, I'm bleeding, but the cuts aren't closing.' _Jericho saunters over to him.

"The reason I dressed like a man, was because I felt weak and wanted to feel more powerful." She kicks him, then paints her lips with his blood. "That's no longer needed. My hatred has given me greater strength than I could have ever imagined." She smirks at him. "You are the one who made a woman of me and you will take responsibility, Ban." He raises an eyebrow before casually throwing her several yards away and getting up.

"I'm sorry to disappoint ya kid, but I have a girl. Even if I didn't, you're so not my type."

Jericho screams as she comes running at him again. He braces himself. '_I'm not gonna let some little upstart with a complex prevent me from going back to Elaine!'_

"I bet you're one of those cowards who needs a dainty little thing that needs protection!" She swipes at him again. "Needs her hand held to do the simplest things!" He dodges. "Has never seen battle!" She slashes. "Never seen hardship. A bed warmer!"

Ban heals and gets more agitated the more she talks until he finally breaks through her defenses. He gets above her and punches her into the ground knocking her out. "Actually she can kick my ass. It's one of the things that I love about her." He walks off looking for the others.

~Meliodas~

"Oh hello Meliodas." He turns around to find a smiling Guila standing about ten yards away.

"Oh hey there Guila." He waves at her. "What can I do for you?"

She continues to smile. "I've been training." She seems to examine her lance. "I've learned a lot since our battle in the Necropolis. I was hoping for a review session of sorts." He acts like he's thinking about it.

"I don't know. I've finally warmed up compared to then and I could seriously hurt you." She smirks.

"I doubt that." At those words she lunges at him, which he blocks with his dragon blade pushing her back.

"Why don't you surrender, tell me who's behind all this and we can both go on with our lives."

Guila points her lance at Meliodas shooting multiple fireballs around him like a string of explosive lights. They seem to settle around him in midair.

"I'm guessing if I get careless and touch those they'll explode." He analyzes their positions. "I'll just have to take them out one at a time."

Guila smirks. "They also explode on their own." They start to draw in closer to Meliodas. "The first one will explode making another one explode." He frowns, briefly looking at the knight. "This will cause a chain reaction making the others explode, Chain Explosion."

As if the firing code, her last words cause the first one to go off. A huge cloud of smoke and dust covers the area. "That should finish him." Guila says as she waves some of the smoke away. She's about to walk away, when she sees a figure standing in the cloud. "That's impossible!"

Meliodas is indeed standing there unscathed. When the first explosion went off he covered himself in his shadows to protect himself and dropped them after the last explosion. He smiles at her. "I told you. Now." He points his blade at her. "Why are you here?"

She scowls. "Why should I tell you!?"

"Because this will be a lot easier on you if you do." She seems to examine the sincerity of his statement.

"We have been sent here to collect Princess Elizabeth and that sword of yours."

Meliodas's eyes open wide. "Well she's not here and you're never getting a hold of this sword." She smiles.

"Oh so you were hoping she would escape with the crowd huh?" She chuckles. "If only it were that easy."

He lifts her up by the front of her armor until she's several feet off the ground. "What does that mean?" She smiles serenely.

~Diane~

"Everything will be alright! Just keeping heading that way!"

"Follow the crowd! Don't stray!"

"Help me! Please!" Diane turns to the plea where she spots an old man has fallen.

"I'm coming!" She turns to her partner. "Howzer!" He looks at her. She points to the old man. "I'm going to help him. Watch my back!"

"On it!" He follows her and blows away some falling debris.

She kneels down and puts one of the old man's arms around her shoulder. "It's okay. I've got ya."

"Thank you young miss." She smiles warmly at him.

"Let's get you out of here."

A metallic voice interrupts.

"Why hello." The armored knight starts waving his weapons around effecting Diane and the old man.

"What's going on? My body feels heavy." The ground underneath them starts to crack from the magic. Diane looks around. "Howzer!" He turns around from where he was safely blowing away rocks and dust from an injured woman, before seeing the other knight in shock.

"What are you doing Marmas?!"

"Howzer!" Diane yells again getting his attention. She grabs onto the old mans shirt and pants. "Catch him!" She tosses him to Howzer just before the ground opens up with a large crack and she falls in.

"Diane! No!" Howzer spins around to face Marmas. "Why did you do that?!"

~Elizabeth~

Elizabeth is still searching for Veronica when an errant spell blasts her wing. "Ahhhh!" She hits the ground hard. '_That hurt.'_

"Ellie?" The Goddess looks up to see her sister looking at her with concern. "Are you okay?"

"Veronica?" The purple haired princess offers her a hand, which she accepts. Veronica gets Elizabeth to her feet before finally noticing the wings.

"What happened to you Ellie? Where did these wings come from? Why are you with the Sins?" She waves away her own questions. "Never mind. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that you are coming home!" She grabs Elizabeth's wrist and starts pulling her down the path away from Vaizel.

Elizabeth tries to gently but urgently pull out of her grasp. "Wait! I can't leave! They need me! Meliodas needs me!" Veronica scoffs and continues to drag her.

"They're criminals. The only things they need, are to be locked up or executed." She stops and looks at her little sister. "Do you not remember the danger they are to the kingdom? Our citizens? Our family?" Elizabeth frowns and finally wretches her wrist away from the vice like grip it was held in.

"They are not the danger here. They are trying to help me stop the people endangering this kingdom! The real danger here are the Holy Knights! They've been harming and enslaving innocent people. This attack here in Vaizel," She gestures to the damaged buildings and explosions echoing though the air. "it was all caused by the Holy Knights. The Seven Deadly Sins didn't start the fighting! They are trying to stop it!"

"You're ridiculous!" Veronica crosses her arms defensively. "The Holy Knights would never do such a thing." Elizabeth sighs.

"Veronica… where's Father?" Her sister freezes. "Where's Margaret?" Elizabeth sees Veronica hesitate. "They've been unavailable haven't they. You can't see them… can't talk to them… can't even send them messages, can you?"

"The Grand Masters said it wasn't safe with the Sins running rampant." The middle sister steels her resolve. "They also said that their leader, Meliodas, probably brainwashed you into thinking they're innocent. I just can't believe they experimented on you." She shakes her head in disbelief. "I mean… what's the point of giving you wings?" Elizabeth looks at her sadly.

"Sister… that's not what's going on. No one has brainwashed me. No one's been experimenting on me." She sighs. "There's a lot more going on than you think." An explosion rocks the ground throwing them both off their feet. "This isn't the best place to explain."

Veronica just grabs her hand, jerks her to her feet, and starts yanking Elizabeth down the path.

~Meliodas~

"The whole perimeter of the field is covered in land mines. Someone tries to go past them and they blow. It doesn't matter if they walk, run, or fly. They'll still go off."

His gaze snaps in the direction of his Goddess, who is being pulled in the direction of the hidden bombs. '_NO! ELIZABETH!' _He drops his opponent and practically rockets his way to his love.

~Elizabeth~

"Veronica please! Will you just listen to me!" Her sister whips around to look at her.

"I am listening to you. Every word you say is just convincing me more that we should go home, Now." Her next step shines with a bright light as they both see a winged Meliodas appear.

He grabs Elizabeth and Veronica, pushing them out of range of the blast. The explosion sends Meliodas crashing into the ground leaving a crater in his wake.

"Meliodas!" Veronica loosens her grip in shock. Elizabeth runs for the crater. "Meliodas!" She climbs down into the crater and finds her slightly singed lover. "Oh my love, why would you do that?" He blinks his eyes open to the sight of his Goddess leaning over him with a look of worry. He sends her a smile.

"Hey beautiful. Are you alright?" She laughs wetly, wiping a couple of tears away.

"I'm fine." She sniffs. "Why did you do that? You know I would've been okay." He brings his hands up to her cheeks and wipes away the tears she missed.

"Because I love you too much to let you get hurt." He looks at her lovingly before bringing her lips down to his, kissing her with all the love he can. Even in this moment of chaos, it still feels like they have all the time in the world to just bask in their everlasting love.

"WHAT IS GOING ON!?" The lovers separate to find Veronica standing there angrily. "I demand an explanation!" She turns to Meliodas, who gets off the ground with Elizabeth's help. "Who exactly are you?"

Meliodas points to himself, which causes Elizabeth to roll her eyes fondly. "Oh here we go." Meliodas clears his throat.

"I am Meliodas. Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins, the Dragon Sin of Wrath, former knight of the the kingdom of Danafor and several before that, former general of Stigma, friend and comrade of both the Fairy King Gloxinia and the Giant King Drole, ex-leader of the Ten Commandments, disowned heir to the Demon King Kieron, first born son of said Demon King, and most importantly lover and protector of the Goddess Elizabeth."

Veronica blinks at the introduction. "What?" Meliodas just huffs.

"I'm Meliodas." Veronica takes a step back.

"You! You're the one that hurt Ellie!"

"Veronica no!" Meliodas snatches Elizabeth's hand before she can get out of his range.

"Didn't you tell her what's going on?" She sighs.

"I wanted to, but explosions keep happening and she keeps interrupting me."

While the couple is talking Veronica pulls out a purple gem, the size of her fist.

_Flashback_

"_This is a Goddess Amber." Hendrickson hands over the gemstone to the Princess. "It's a very useful item. It traps even the darkest of creatures or souls. It will be easy to trap Meliodas inside. Get within a few feet of him. It will suck him in once you say the incantation."_

_Griamore objects. "But if she gets that close he may attack her." Veronica halts his words._

"_I don't care. I will protect Elizabeth at any and all costs." _

"_Please reconsider!" Griamore begs Veronica. Hendrickson glances at her._

"_You don't have to do it, but… it may be Princess Elizabeth's only chance."_

_Veronica looks at the stone with determination. "How does it work?"_

_Flashback End_

"Rusco basla nilsitil."

The gem releases what look like dark tendrils that latch onto Meliodas and start sucking him in.

"Meliodas!" Elizabeth latches onto his hand, but he just gives her a smile and jerks free, fully assimilating into the gem. Veronica holds it up triumphantly.

"Yes! I've captured the monster Meliodas!" She swings it around to show Elizabeth. "This gem can only hold the darkest of souls. Is this proof enough of his evil?!"

"No!" Elizabeth extends a hand and uses her power to extract the gem from a shocked Veronica's hand. '_Oh good, it's Goddess Amber. I can fix this easily.' _She brings the stone to her lips and kisses it briefly then drops it on the ground. It lights up and starts spinning as cracks appear on its surface. When it shatters all the combatants within several miles can feel the massive release of power. The amount of darkness within it causes Guila and Jericho to cough up blood before passing out. Once the light settles Meliodas is seen to be kneeling on the ground with his head bowed. Elizabeth kneels in front of him. "Meliodas?" She gently puts a hand on his face before tilting it up, finding his eyes are dark and unfocused. "Are you alright?" He keeps staring at her for a moment, then he blinks.

"Elizabeth?" She smiles and nods as his eyes focus on her and go back to emerald green. She kisses him briefly before hauling them both to their feet. The couple turns around to the pale pair of Veronica and Griamore. "We need to talk." The other two exchange looks.

Griamore nods. "I suppose we do."

~King~

"Hey Captain! The whole towns been evacuated. Diane did a pretty good job." He looks around to find himself surrounded by balls of fire. "Damnit!" His body is covered up by the resulting explosions.

Guila stays neutral. "There's no way he could have escaped that."

"You sure about that?" King reveals himself to be shielded by a sphere of daggers. Guila growls in frustration before throwing more fire at him, which he disperses with a casual snap of his fingers commanding Chastiefol to meet it. He's about to launch his own attack when Guila collapses. "Huh?" He extends his senses outward. "Where's Diane? I can't sense her power anymore, and what happened to the Captain to initiate such an increase in magic power?" His thoughts are interrupted by a sword flying by his head. "What the!?" He turns around. '_The referee? What's he doing?'_

"And now ladies and gentlemen! Our next match is between Harlequin and-" The referee spins around showing his form of someone in orange armor, with green hair, an eyepatch and a purple cape. "Me. Holy Knight Helbram." The man smiles smugly.

'_No way! I recognize him! He should be dead!' _

The other knight holds his sword up to Kings neck. "Greetings to you Harlequin. Or is it King now?" King looks at the sword briefly before staring at his opponent.

"How are you alive? I saw you die!"

Helbram waves off the question. "I doesn't matter. It's in the past. Now what seems to be the matter?"

King looks at him with a bored expression hiding his inner emotions. "I'm actually a little worried about your lack of self preservation." He looks around. "Do you really think you can beat me all by yourself?"

Helbram just throws his hand forward trying to take off Kings head. His sword is blocked by Chastiefol. King flicks his wrist, Chastiefol flowing gracefully through the air only to be intercepted by Helbrams sword.

"As to be expected by my old comrade in arms." King flinches.

"Stop this Helbram! We don't have to fight! I can get you some help,"

Helbram laughs. "Help me! You couldn't even help your sister!" He throws his sword at Chastiefol breaking it. "In fact you can't even save yourself!" He cuts King across the arm sending him flying. He's caught by a warm hand before it goes black.

~Diane and Howzer~

Back at the base of the arena, Howzer is frantically looking for Diane, while the round knight from earlier, Marmas, just watches.

"Why are you looking for that girl? She's a criminal and we, as Holy Knights, are supposed to dispatch criminals." Howzer gives him a glare.

"You have no right to call her a criminal. She was helping me evacuate the town because Guila and Jericho were out of line. She was helping me when you started attacking her for no reason!" The other Knight scoffs.

"No reason! She's a traitor who tried to overthrow the kingdom ten years ago. She helped slaughter dozens of our comrades to escape! That's all the reason I need."

Howzer rolls his eyes. "Even if that's true," _Which I don't believe it is anymore!' _"that doesn't mean innocent people should get hurt. Who's worse, her or a damn rollie pollie like you!"

"Who are you calling a rollie pollie!" The ground begins to shake. Howzer and Marmas look behind them to see Hawks mom approaching them. She stops in front of them, opens her mouth and lets Diane's clothes fall into the crack in the ground.

Howzer gapes at the sight of the giant green pig, while the rollie pollie knight waves his weapons at it.

"Now go on! Shoo! Don't make me use my magic on you!" Howzer takes the bludgeons away.

"Stop acting like a fool, Marmas. The pigs not doing anything but standing there. Leave it alone." He looks back at the crack where he spots movement.

"Howzer! Give me back my weapons!" The knight follows his gaze as a shadow begins to loom over them. "What is that?!"

Howzer beams. "That is the Serpent Sin of Envy. The giantess Diane." The aforementioned giantess steps out of the crack like it was a… step. The round knight runs away, while Howzer continues to look on. "I'm glad you're alright Diane!" She looks down and smiles thankfully.

"I'm glad you're alright too!" She looks around. "Did you get the old man to safety?"

"Yeah. The whole town's been evacuated. I'm going to go through one more time just in case." Diane nods, before grabbing Gideon.

"I'm going to help my friends. They may need me." Howzer nods.

"I hope to see you again Diane!" '_I think we'd be real good friends.'_ She smiles before running off to the battlefield.

"Now where are they?" She spots King battling someone midair before he gets thrown back. "King!" She gently catches him in her hand.

~King and Diane~

King opens his eyes to see Diane looking at him with concern. "Are you alright King?" He smiles at her.

"I'll be fine." He flies out of her hand, holding his hand to his arm. She turns from concerned to furious as she turns to look at Helbram.

"Are you the one who hurt King?" The once brave knight starts shaking at the rage on her face.

"Y-Yes." She lets loose a shriek of anger. "I just want the Princess and the sword. I have no quarrel with you." She ignores him, slamming Gideon on the ground.

Helbram then hears Hendrickson in his head through his link magic. "Helbram you must retreat." He hesitates.

"What about the mission?"

"Withdraw. Now!"

"Mother Earth Catastrophe!" Diane yells as the ground starts breaking up and flying through the air.

Helbram spots the still unconscious female knights on the ground and flies all three of them away as Diane lets the rock fall down to the ground creating a massive cloud of dust and debris.

After the dust settles the Sins all find each other and head to the bar.

~Boar Hat~

"So that's what going on." Meliodas finishes. Veronica and Griamore look shocked and dismayed at the new information. Veronica speaks up first.

"So you're a Goddess." Elizabeth nods. "And you're a Demon."

"Yep."

"And you're together. Have been for thousands of years."

"Off and on technically," Elizabeth nudges him. "But yes."

"Crazy right." Ban interjects. Griamore nods as Veronica seems to slump in her seat.

"I'm sorry for how I treated you." Meliodas shrugs.

"I've been treated worse." The Sins exchange sad looks at that. "You should have seen the reactions of everyone when Elizabeth and I first got together. Ugh!" Elizabeth groans as well.

"Everyone thought that he was going to turn on me or that he was just using me to get what he wanted." She turns to him. "Wasn't it Gloxinia that changed their minds?" This gets a shocked look from the recently healed King, while Meliodas shakes his head.

"No, I think it was Drole." This shocks Diane. "He said something about reading vibrations in the earth or something like that. Though I do think Gloxinia read our minds to make sure. Anyway, that's not important." He leans forward toward Veronica and Griamore. "What is important are your next steps. What are your plans?"

"I follow Princess Veronica." Griamore looks to the Princess, who briefly looks at Elizabeth.

"I'm going to travel the kingdom to stop what Holy Knight attacks I can and help the villages that were devastated by them. It's the least I can do for them." Elizabeth beams at her before drawing her into a hug.

"That's wonderful." Veronica hesitates, then returns the hug full force. The others exchange smiles at the interaction. Meliodas claps his hands together.

"Alright! You two can rest here for the night. In the morning we'll drop you off at the next town."

~Next Morning~

Hawk's mom had just finished digging herself into the ground outside of a little village, when everyone exited the bar. Veronica and Griamore stood on the path to the village, while the others stood in front of the building. Elizabeth runs to hug Veronica.

"I'm going to miss you." The hug is returned.

"I'll miss you too Ellie." The two sisters not by blood, but by choice clutch at each other for a moment before separating. Elizabeth goes back to stand by Meliodas, who Veronica turns to. "You better keep her safe. You hear me."

He nods solemnly. "With my life." She returns the nod before heading off.

"Come on Griamore. Let's go."

"Yes Princess Veronica."

~Later~

The forest is silent… except for the echoing sound of shrieking metal. Ban, wearing only his pants and boots, is dodging King's small daggers with his agility. He kick one of the daggers back at King, wearing teal shoes, blue shirt and pants, who stops it before it can stab out his eye.

"You think I can't handle it King." Ban growls out in frustration. "You need to come at me! Act like you're trying to kill me!"

"Why would I want to do that?" King sighs. "Last time I did that," He turns Chastiefol back into a pillow. "Elaine was disappointed in my actions." He lounges on the pillow. "I don't like doing that to Elaine."

"That's the point!" His shout finally gets King's attention. "I need to get stronger fast. We need to crush the Holy Knights and take back the kingdom as fast as we can." He jumps behind King, grabs him by the head, and throws him across the clearing. King catches himself before he can hit the ground.

"So you wanna take back the kingdom. Why? You've never any particular reason to do this before." He smiles teasingly. "Is this just so you can go back to Elaine quicker."

Ban smiles at the thought. "That's part of the reason." He expression switches to anger as he turns away. "I still remember when the Captain said that I could follow him. It was one of the greatest days of my life. Captain was one one of the only people to immediately accept me. He didn't care about my past, or take anything people said against me." He clenches his fist. "He's been dealing with people looking down on him… being separated from the one he loves… starting his life over and over again. Never being able to settle." He spins around. "I want pay him back for all the times he believed in me. For bringing Elaine back. For being my friend. He deserves peace and he's not going to get it until this is settled."

King looks at him in surprise before nodding in solemn agreement.

~Hill~

"Meliodas?" The Demon turns around at the voice of his Goddess.

"Hello Beautiful. What are you doing out here?" She smiles as she sits beside him.

"I was going to ask you the same thing." He pulls her hand into his grasp.

"Just thinking."

"About what?" He smiles apprehensively before picking a nearby flower and putting it in her hair.

"I was thinking about you and everything that's been happening. I was thinking it's about time I stop holding back. The Holy Knights have gotten stronger. I'm concerned that they might hurt you or anyone of us." He looks at her with a worried look. "What do you think?"

Elizabeth smiles at him. "I think it's time we both stop holding back." He stands then offers her a hand. She takes it. "I think we should also tell them about the Coffin." Meliodas hesitates, but nods in agreement.

"We will soon." He looks over at the mountain in front of them. "I want do something to get a feel for my power again real quick." When she nods he picks up a nearby stick. "Alright. Here it goes." He raises the stick into the air. '_Breathe in, breathe out.'_ He slashes the branch down quickly, slicing a blade of air straight through the mountain splitting it in two with a more than five foot gap in the middle.

Elizabeth looks at Meliodas. "Do you remember the prophecy?" He's silent for a moment.

"When shooting stars fill the night sky in the form of crosses, Britannia will face her most desperate hour. This is a trial, preordained since ancient times. And it will herald the start of a Holy War between the guiding hand of the light and the bloodline of the darkness."

Elizabeth looks at him with a look of determination. "I believe we can prevent another Holy War. That Britannia's most desperate hour will be this War and no other."

He squeezes her hand. "I hope you're right." The two of them walk out to see the Sins staring at the destruction.

"Captain?" King speaks up. "What did this?" Meliodas looks at him.

"I did." The Sins looked shocked before turning serious.

"What's next Cap'n?" Meliodas looks between everyone with a serious expression.

"I promise you, for the sake of those who have fought by my side. This war has been raging on for 3,000 years, but I'll end it once and for all."

He walks away leaving everyone else to exchange one last glance before following him.

~Meliodas's Room~

Elizabeth has just finished changing into her nightclothes, when Meliodas walks in. "Hello Meliodas." He watches her struggle to brush a knot from her hair, before grabbing the brush from her and gesturing for her to sit. She glances at him briefly before sitting on the bed, where he kneels behind her. He starts to run it through her silver hair. His strokes are gentle. It was something they used to do to de-stress from a day of fighting or arguing with archangels. She relaxes at the repetitive motion before shutting her eyes. He was able to successfully and (mostly) painlessly de-tangle her hair, but he kept brushing. The gesture soothed both of them. "I think you worried you comrades today."

Meliodas stops for a moment. "I probably did." He goes back to brushing. "I just worry about them and you." He kisses the back of her neck once before putting down the brush and going to the closet to change.

"I know you do." Elizabeth puts her brush back before getting under the covers. "We just need you to believe in us like we believe in you." Meliodas sighs as he gets under the covers.

"It's just-." He sighs again. "With the Sins, I'm older than all of them. I want to protect them. They haven't been in as many battles or wars as I have. With you…" He gives at her adoringly, brushing some hair behind her ear. "I know you're strong. You're always right by my side in battles, but I love you so much sometimes it hurts. Every time I think of you fighting. I remember our last stand against our parents and waking up without you when it was over." He sniffs as the few tears that escaped are brushed away by Elizabeth. "I don't think I can survive that again." She smiles at him before kissing him.

"It's not going to happen. You and I are getting our life together if it's the last we do. I promise." He kisses her again, a long, slow, lingering kiss. One that speaks of the good times and the promise of more to come.

* * *

**I'm sorry for all the waiting. I'm also sorry that the waiting's going to continue. Like I said in the summary I will update periodically AND I WILL! I just can't guarantee I'll do it every month. THIS STORY WILL BE FINISHED! Just not soon...**


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